Soda and anxiety?

Oh great, another thing to worry about.

A few years ago, I basically stopped drinking soda.

I didn’t taper off or make a big public declaration. I just quit after reporting on a couple of large studies that made the habit feel less casual and more like a repeated bet against my future self.

At the time, most of the concern centered on physical health.

Research linked higher consumption of both sugar-sweetened and artificially sweetened soft drinks with increased risks ranging from circulatory problems to overall mortality.

Now a new study suggests there may be another reason to think more carefully about sugary drinks—especially for kids. It’s one I hadn’t focused on much before.

‘Energy dense but low in nutrients’

Researchers affiliated with Bournemouth University published a systematic review and meta-analysis in the Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics examining sugar-sweetened beverage consumption and anxiety in adolescents.

The research team reviewed nine studies published between 2000 and 2025. Seven of the nine reported a significant positive association between sugary drink intake and anxiety.

Lead author Chloe Casey, a lecturer in nutrition, explained why the mental-health angle is often overlooked in diet research:

“With increasing concern about adolescent nutrition, most public health initiatives have emphasized the physical consequences of poor dietary habits.”

[However], the mental health implications … of diet have been underexplored by comparison, particularly for drinks that are energy dense but low in nutrients.”

‘An unhealthy connection’

Anxiety disorders are among the most common mental health challenges for young people, and estimates cited in the study summaries suggest roughly one in five children and adolescents had a mental health disorder in 2023.

Caveat: this research doesn’t prove sugary drinks cause anxiety.

For example, kids who already feel anxious might consume more sugary drinks, or their anxiety could be driven by other factors such as sleep problems or family environment.

(Or else—you know—the entire state of the world right now?)

Even so, the researchers said the pattern was consistent enough to warrant attention.

“Whilst we may not be able to confirm at this stage what the direct cause is, this study has identified an unhealthy connection between consumption of sugary drinks and anxiety disorders in young people,” Casey said.

1 in 5 children and adolescents

So, what counts as “a sugar-sweetened beverage?”

The category extends beyond traditional soda to include energy drinks, juices, sweetened teas and coffees, flavored milks, and similar high-sugar drinks.

I think that’s notable because many families that rarely buy soda still wind up with kids consuming a steady stream of liquid sugar in other forms.

None of this means parents need to turn the occasional soda into a major battleground—or the world’s most ironic thing to worry about.

However, after years of writing about parenting for places like Inc.com and elsewhere, I keep coming back to the same theme:

Everyday habits matter more than occasional treats.

OK, with that, I’m off to pour some black coffee and start the day.

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Other things:

• Oil prices surged and stock markets slid Monday after hard-line Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei was chosen to succeed his late father as Iran’s supreme leader. Khamenei, a secretive 56-year-old cleric, has close ties to the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who had ruled since 1989, was killed during the war’s opening salvo. (AP)

• Who funds elections? 300 billionaires and their immediate family members donated more than $3 billion — 19 percent of all contributions — in federal elections in 2024, either directly or through political action committees. Go back to 2010, before the Supreme Court’s 2010 ruling ending many remaining campaign finance restrictions, and the share of billionaire spending was 0.3 percent. (NYT)

• Oil and gas magnate Harold Hamm, one of the wealthiest people in America, has reportedly asked Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt to appoint him to that state’s newly open Senate seat. Hamm, the founder and chairman of Continental Resources, has been a longtime supporter of Stitt supporter and was considered President Donald Trump’s “top energy whisperer” during his first term. He also recently donated to Trump’s $300 million White House ballroom project. (OK Gazette)

• Luxury real estate agents Tal and Oren Alexander — who catered to celebrities like Kim Kardashian and Kanye West and helped sell a record-smashing $240 million Midtown penthouse — were convicted Monday of sex trafficking for using their vast wealth to drug and rape numerous women they lured into their twisted orbit. Jurors, over the course of a monthlong trial, heard nightmarish testimony from nearly a dozen women. The brothers face 15 years to life in prison. (NY Post)

• YouTube is now the world’s largest media company, and it is only getting bigger: YouTube’s 2025 revenue topped even Disney’s media properties and is poised for ongoing growth both in advertising and subscriptions. (Marketwatch)

• “I trusted AI with daily decisions. The way it dived in, experts say, raises flags.” (Christian Science Monitor)

• If you spend any time around car forums, enthusiast groups, or even scrolling through social media, you’ve probably seen the ads. They usually promise the same thing: set up a Montana LLC, register your car there, and potentially save thousands in sales tax. The strategy has become so common that Montana plates on exotic cars have almost become a meme among enthusiasts. But regulators in several states are beginning to pay closer attention. But now California has launched a major investigation into the practice, often referred to as the “Montana Loophole.” (Yahoo Finance)

Thanks for reading. I wrote about some of this before at Inc.com. See you in the comments.