Soda Makes You Stupid?

[Taco-Calamitous]

A study by education and health leaders in Washington, out today, shows that teens who drink two or more cans of soda per day are twice as likely to fail in school as those who do not.

Sure, there's room for debate about the true cause behind that correlation. Maybe getting Ds and Fs makes a kid reach for an ice-cold pop?

But I found it interesting that the heavy soda drinkers were more likely to report poor grades than kids who watch more than three hours of TV per day, those who skip breakfast or those who get too little sleep.

And don't tell my kids -- but it turns out that eating five servings of fruits or veggies every day doesn't seem to raise your odds of good grades at all. * sigh*

For the record, the name of the study is: "Research Review: School-based Health Interventions and Academic Achievement," and it does not state that soda makes you dumb.

Still, with four of every 10 frequent soda-drinkers doing poorly in school, should someone be telling our kids, "Put down that can and go watch some TV?"

Link

Better stay off that soda, kids. It melts your brain, and makes you flunk out of school! Or does it just make you fat and lazy... I drank a lot of soda during High School and College. I was pretty lazy through most of High School, and my grades suffered for some classes. However, when I got to college, I did a lot better. Anyhoo...

Wuv, Yer Mom

[Dodie16]

I've never developed a taste for soda. It doesn't quench my thirst at all, and I don't like how the carbonation feels in my mouth.

I find it funny that after I graduated from high school, my school got on some sort of health kick and got rid of all the pop machines, and replaced them with bottled water machines. I guess they didn't really care about my generation being unhealthy, and according to this study, dumb.

I don't really see the correlation myself, but I don't take time out of my day to do studies like this. So what do I know? I don't think that four out of ten soda drinkers is a very high number anyway. I think that maybe these people could be just not very good in school and they HAPPEN to drink soda.

[Unknown Entity]

I drink soda (at the max, two cans a day - never more), and I don't fail. If anything, it keeps me awake in class.

Now, it alcohol that's the problem. I noticed a correlation between the girls at my old school who went out every Friday to drink, and the girls who stayed indoors on a Friday night. Guess which group failed? Right. The chicks that drank loads. Mainly because they got so wasted, they didn't remember what happened the night before, and... whoops! I missed a period. Where's the child support, mystery father? =S

Anyway, I don't see why soda would have that effect on someone.

[Padraic]

I'm really, actually a smart kid. And, at most, I'll drink a 2L bottle of 7up at a time. Sure I don't do my homework, but I do amazing on tests... even French (worst subject) 75-90%. I don't even study. The only reason that study could make sense is if they're drinking it in class instead of paying attention to teachers... or they're lieing about the "pop" its really beer

[Pete]

I don't really buy into the study.

I would have to think that the kids drinking all that soda probably live in less active households, so they're all just being fat and lazy and not getting any real stimulation. It could also just be that some kids aren't as bright as others. 4 in 10 isn't exactly concrete.

As for the boozing, I would like to say that I used to get absolutely hammered 3-4 nights a week in college, and I graduated with a GPA of 3.3, with making Dean's list twice. I also happened to graduate in only 4 years, which is apparently a rarity now. I also worked 3 jobs, exercised daily and played frisbee. And I never knocked anyone up.

[Phantom]

Soda? No no no. Alcohol maybe? Yes in some ways. What I mean is, Soda can have a lot of sugar, which is way some parents prevent their kids from drinking it until maybe their early teen years. I think its all in your own choice or desire to be lazy and a couch potato, its not the soda, it sounds like people are using soda as a crotch or excuse for their laziness and I feel that sad. I mean, I drunk soda growing up and it never made me lazy, if anything I was lazy on my own, but still did things I needed to do, school, chores etc.


Alcohol is much different then Soda. If you drink to much you will become drunk, sometimes you will lose brain cells, in which case you could develop memory lose, which could also affect your health, grades, and your over all way of life. Then again Alcohol much like Soda could be used as an excuse as well, in most cases the claims of drunkeness and memory lose can be true.

(Go down to your local bar or pub after midnight-3am and look at the people inside. You'll know what I mean by drunkeness lol)

[GypsyElder]

I don't know about that one. That's the first I've ever herd of this. To me, Drinking lot's of soda just equals Kidney stones. I had a friend once, who ONLY drank soda, and ended up getting Kidney stones because of it, not pretty. But then again, during high school, he did get pretty bad grades. That's just laziness though seeing that he didn't even finnish, and dropped out like a bum.

[Taco-Calamitous]

No, you're all wrong. Soda causes stupidity in kids. Just like video games cause violence. 4 out of 10 is perfectly convincing to me.

I just thought it was funny. Or stupid. I know I was lazy for reasons other than drinking soda (although it probably contributed to my being the fattest I ever was during the middle of my college career.) Anyhoo...

Wuv, Yer Mom

[HUNK]

Now I may be violent but I'm not by any means stupid. I can't possibly agree with this study.

Now I'd be willing to belive that soda can help make a person "Stupid" but it cant be the only reason.

I'm a hardcore caffeine addict and am proud of it! However if soda causes lazyness I would not be surprised...

[Padraic]

No, you're all wrong. Soda causes stupidity in kids. Just like video games cause violence.

Haha, yet another lie. That or I'm just an exception . I play loads of video games and I'm not violent. and NO I do not play games like Hello Kitty Island Adventure... sounds fun though, LIES Seriously you're actually right about that. My brother wasn't violent untill he started playing gun games. JRPGs don't make you violent, Gun games do! and if you don't believe me ask my bruises!

[Shan'do Spike]

Haha, yet another lie. That or I'm just an exception . I play loads of video games and I'm not violent. and NO I do not play games like Hello Kitty Island Adventure... sounds fun though, LIES Seriously you're actually right about that. My brother wasn't violent untill he started playing gun games. JRPGs don't make you violent, Gun games do! and if you don't believe me ask my bruises!

You may want to check out this link.

That being said, after this paragraph, I may need to reread that link. The study has some pretty clear flaws in it. I find it highly unlikely that the correlation goes the direction of "you drink soda, therefore you are stupid." It's much more likely that the correlation goes "people who are lazy and inactive tend to both do more poorly in school and tend to drink soda." I'd believe that correlation.

And note I said correlation: just because two things are correlated doesn't mean that if you drink soda you are lazy and inactive; nor does it mean that if you do poorly in school you drink soda. If you want to know the exact details, take a statistics class. Or better yet, for your own sanity, don't.

People who write about statistics in newspapers are almost all really stupid and ignorant of actual statistics. People who say you can say anything with statistics only do so by not giving sufficient context to what they say with statistics.

[Maridia]

Well...beating off causes blindness, video games tell me to kill people, Motley Crue tells me to shout at the devil, so THIS just has to be true too!

My grandfather is a straight up sugar and soda fiend, more than I. Now he's got diabetes but also became one of the head people of his company selling parts to the different power plants across the world making 6 figures a year. Consequently I dropped out of school and also love my soda though not as much as I used to. I think it just comes down to personal responsibility, and personal decisions about much more than drink of choice. But hey what do I know?

[Pete]

Josh, you've got it all wrong. We're in America! We don't need personal responsibility or any of that nonsense. We've got plenty of lawyers just willing to get us the money that we deserve. And it's so convenient that they all advertise during Jerry Springer and Maury. It's so reassuring that it's really never our fault for anything.

Oh, so this is why the rest of the world hates us, isn't it?

[Maridia]

Hey as far as I'm concerned OJ Simpson has proved to me that anything is possible..err for about 10 years til you finally get caught. But ya know...

[RagnaToad]

Haha, yet another lie. That or I'm just an exception . I play loads of video games and I'm not violent. and NO I do not play games like Hello Kitty Island Adventure... sounds fun though, LIES Seriously you're actually right about that. My brother wasn't violent untill he started playing gun games. JRPGs don't make you violent, Gun games do! and if you don't believe me ask my bruises!

You did not just take Telegraph's post seriously.

As for the correlation: One isn't necessarily the cause of the other. They could just as well have the same cause.

Take poverty for instance. Poor people are sometimes less capable of properly raising their children. Their kids might not realise the importance of school, just like they might not know that you shouldn't drink soda all day long.

On a sidenote, there was an article in the newspaper a couple of days ago about how people that play racing games tend to be more of an actual 'racer' in real life traffic.

[Govinda]

I never drunk, and nor have I ever drunk, fizzy juice without some variety of alcohol involved.

This must be why I am so smart, have no fillings, and have only lost half a tooth in my whole life.

[Meigumi]

My mom barely gives me soda. When I do get soda, it's either at a party, or at a friend's house. And we definitely never drink any at school. I'm a fairly good student; just a normal student.

I think people who chew gum are stupid. It's distracting, and it's very annoying. Half of my 7th period (english, ftw) class chews gum, and they've been caught about 3 to 6 times (why are they bringing gum to school anyway?).

Plus, we had a substitute teacher. The same fellows made fun of her, because of her foreign accent. Our original teacher told the entire class to BEHAVE yesterday, twice. It was ALSO written on the chalkboard.

The majority of my class had a 'effin 0 to 64 on their homework, and all they had to do was add commas. THE MAJORITY OF THEM. It wasn't that hard - I got an 84 on it. Once again, highest grade in my class. Missed 4.

=______=; God, this had to be a dream. These guys can't be that stupid.

I've done a little thinking. Drinks are not really distracting. I don't mind drinking some right now, while I'm typing this. But, I might as well turn around, chew some gum and stare at a wall.

Conclusion? Gum is distracting, and they keep you from learning. Unless if it involves science.

[GypsyElder]

This must be why I am so smart, have no fillings, and have only lost half a tooth in my whole life.

Wait, are you serious or just joking?

Not even baby teeth??

[Govinda]

Wait, are you serious or just joking?

Not even baby teeth??

Ok, ok, technically it's my fault because my sentence wasn't as well-constructed as it could have been. Lay off the damn soda.

[GypsyElder]

Ok, ok, technically it's my fault because my sentence wasn't as well-constructed as it could have been. Lay off the damn soda.

haha. Everyone should drink sparkling fruit water instead. I'm not sure if it's any better, but they're delicious.

yeah, they're probably way better for you.

[Taco-Calamitous]

haha. Everyone should drink sparkling fruit water instead. I'm not sure if it's any better, but they're delicious.

yeah, they're probably way better for you.

I don't wanna drink no fruit water! I wanna drink BEER! That's healthy, isn't it? A beer a day... or was it a glass of wine a day? I'm pretty sure no one says that about fruit water, though Anyhoo...

Wuv, Yer Mom

[GypsyElder]

I don't wanna drink no fruit water! I wanna drink BEER! That's healthy, isn't it? A beer a day... or was it a glass of wine a day? I'm pretty sure no one says that about fruit water, though Anyhoo...

Wuv, Yer Mom

but....Beer is Yucky all you'll do is get a beer belly from drinking that...or the shits apparently.

and yeah it's wine. ^^!

[Padraic]

but....Beer is Yucky

and yeah it's wine. ^^!

How can you not like beer?? Wine on the other hand, is yucky

[Taco-Calamitous]

It's an acquired taste, to be sure. Sometimes when I drink it still, I go "Uuhh! XP" when I get towards the bottom of the bottle. Although since I started drinking, I've actually probably gotten thinner. Probably not because of the drinking, but hey!

As for fruit water... can I drink juice instead? Anyhoo...

Wuv, Yer Mom

[GypsyElder]

How can you not like beer?? Wine on the other hand, is yucky

Aren't you a little too young to be drinking beer?

For shame

It's an acquired taste, to be sure. Sometimes when I drink it still, I go "Uuhh! XP" when I get towards the bottom of the bottle. Although since I started drinking, I've actually probably gotten thinner. Probably not because of the drinking, but hey!

As for fruit water... can I drink juice instead? Anyhoo...

Wuv, Yer Mom

As long as it's not Hawaiian Punch. That stuff will give you diabetes.

[Pete]

Aren't you a little too young to be drinking beer?

For shame

As long as it's not Hawaiian Punch. That stuff will give you diabetes.

Agreed. Anyone who says yucky is not allowed to talk about booze.

Like Taco, I actually get thinner when I start drinking after a long stretch of sobriety. Usually it's because when I drink, I'll wake up earlier in the day, feel bad that I drank so much, and then bust my ass at the gym.

And Hawaiian Punch is disgusting. It's so sweet that I can't have more than a few sips in a day. Otherwise my teeth with start hurting, and I'll feel like a fatass. Not good.

[monay]

But I found it interesting that the heavy soda drinkers were more likely to report poor grades than kids who watch more than three hours of TV per day, those who skip breakfast or those who get too little sleep.
Ok, ok, technically it's my fault because my sentence wasn't as well-constructed as it could have been. Lay off the damn soda.