3 ms·

Reasonable explanation: Those with poor executive function consume more beverages that taste nice but are well known to negatively impact your health long term.

ineedasername 5y ago
They're kids, so parents make a lot of these choices for them, in which case it wouldn't be the kids' poor executive function causing them to drink more. Perhaps the general causal threads are overly indulgent parents, and SSB's are just one facet of that indulgence, which as a whole is what impacts executive function. A behavioral (instead of chemical) cause.
- iovrthoughtthis 5y ago
  well, executive function issues are quiet heritable
  - ineedasername 5y ago
    Heritable as in genetic, or heritable as in learned behavior? Edit: I love twin studies for exploring this sort of nature/nurture issue. Here's one for executive function that looks at both identical & fraternal twins, and their conclusion is a heavy genetic influence: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2762790/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2762790/
    - iovrthoughtthis 5y ago
      perhaps both! i'm currently exploring gabor maté's theory that it's a combination of genetically predisposed sensitivity and insecure modes of parental attachment
      - ineedasername 5y ago
        I wonder if the two might combine in an epigenetic effect?
    - bjornsing 5y ago
      Doesn’t matter for the sake of this argument.
      - ineedasername 5y ago
        It matters for the sake of discussion and sharing knowledge. In the context of this article it also seems to matter what influence parents have over executive function and where that influence comes from. Why wouldn't that be relevant?
- young_unixer 5y ago
  Or even if the parents don't make the choices for them, they could have not appropriately informed their kid about how bad sugar is. As a kid, I did have the choice but I didn't have the knowledge. Had I been informed about how harmful sugar is, I would have just chosen to drink water, at least after I turned 5 years old and had a concept of long-term health consequences being linked to some behaviors.
  - ineedasername 5y ago
    they could have not appropriately informed their kid about how bad sugar is In the US, schools tend to be pretty good at this these days. Possibly in part because in 2010 there was the "Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act". Part of this outlined acceptable beverages, and the guidelines exclude anything with added sugar. But if parents aren't reinforcing that, or in fact go against it in what is allowed at home, that won't help too much. Although somewhat to my frustration, schools (at least in my district) have taken what I consider unreasonable initiative in further limitations of food that parents can send to school. My daughter came home upset one day, thinking she had done something bad, when I packed a piece of chocolate in her lunch for a special occasion. It was seen by staff and she was scolded for it. Apart from what I view an overreach, if there was a problem then the school should have taken it up with me, the parent, and not done anything in a way that made my daughter feel the she was to blame.

ineedasername 5y ago

They're kids, so parents make a lot of these choices for them, in which case it wouldn't be the kids' poor executive function causing them to drink more. Perhaps the general causal threads are overly indulgent parents, and SSB's are just one facet of that indulgence, which as a whole is what impacts executive function. A behavioral (instead of chemical) cause.

iovrthoughtthis 5y ago
well, executive function issues are quiet heritable
- ineedasername 5y ago
  Heritable as in genetic, or heritable as in learned behavior? Edit: I love twin studies for exploring this sort of nature/nurture issue. Here's one for executive function that looks at both identical & fraternal twins, and their conclusion is a heavy genetic influence: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2762790/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2762790/
  - iovrthoughtthis 5y ago
    perhaps both! i'm currently exploring gabor maté's theory that it's a combination of genetically predisposed sensitivity and insecure modes of parental attachment
    - ineedasername 5y ago
      I wonder if the two might combine in an epigenetic effect?
  - bjornsing 5y ago
    Doesn’t matter for the sake of this argument.
    - ineedasername 5y ago
      It matters for the sake of discussion and sharing knowledge. In the context of this article it also seems to matter what influence parents have over executive function and where that influence comes from. Why wouldn't that be relevant?
young_unixer 5y ago
Or even if the parents don't make the choices for them, they could have not appropriately informed their kid about how bad sugar is. As a kid, I did have the choice but I didn't have the knowledge. Had I been informed about how harmful sugar is, I would have just chosen to drink water, at least after I turned 5 years old and had a concept of long-term health consequences being linked to some behaviors.
- ineedasername 5y ago
  they could have not appropriately informed their kid about how bad sugar is In the US, schools tend to be pretty good at this these days. Possibly in part because in 2010 there was the "Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act". Part of this outlined acceptable beverages, and the guidelines exclude anything with added sugar. But if parents aren't reinforcing that, or in fact go against it in what is allowed at home, that won't help too much. Although somewhat to my frustration, schools (at least in my district) have taken what I consider unreasonable initiative in further limitations of food that parents can send to school. My daughter came home upset one day, thinking she had done something bad, when I packed a piece of chocolate in her lunch for a special occasion. It was seen by staff and she was scolded for it. Apart from what I view an overreach, if there was a problem then the school should have taken it up with me, the parent, and not done anything in a way that made my daughter feel the she was to blame.