Drinking This Beverage Could Be Increasing Your Anxiety, Study Finds

Coffee can get a bad rap for causing nervousness and jitters, but this study finds that another popular drink may be much more anxiety-inducing.

A study published in Nutrients found that soft drinks were associated with a higher level of anxiety than coffee or tea1. In the research, those who drank two or more cans of carbonated soda each day had more severe anxiety symptoms than those who drank less than one per week.

The participant pool included 1,025 people between the ages of 18 and 75 from the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Germany, and Spain, all of whom with a body mass index (BMI) between 25 and 40 kg/m2 (clinically considered overweight or obese) and had some symptoms of depression. Data was pulled from the European depression prevention trial MooDFOOD. More frequent soft drink consumption seemed to align with more severe anxiety symptoms.

"No relationship was found between coffee and tea consumption and the level of depression and anxiety in this specific population in any of the amounts of consumption analyzed," researchers state. In other words, drinking coffee and tea wasn't associated with anxiety in this particular study—but that doesn't mean some people don't feel anxious after drinking caffeine. (Your reaction to it is partially dictated by genetics2.)

Because this study was done on a smaller subgroup of individuals with specific BMIs and preexisting depressive symptoms, the finding isn't necessarily representative of the general population. But that doesn't mean it's not important or relevant.

The list goes on. The important part is to limit soda when you can and find replacements that bring you joy (and make you feel good). 

Just note that diet sodas sweetened with alternatives like aspartame don't make the list. As nutritional psychiatrist Uma Naidoo, M.D., previously shared with mindbodygreen: "Aspartame has been shown to inhibit neurotransmitter function3—that is, the action of the chemical compounds in our brain that govern mood—and induce feelings of depression and anxiety over time.

This study found that soft drinks increased anxiety more than coffee or tea in adults with a BMI between 25 and 40 kg/m2. While these results can't be applied directly to everyone without further testing, this study does add to a larger pool of research suggesting that soft drinks aren't the healthiest option out there for mental health.