Energy drinks and junk food damage teenagers' mental health, according to new research. The rate of young people diagnosed with anxiety and depression has rocketed in the last few years, with many pointing to cyber-bullying and media.
However, new research by RMIT University in Melbourne has found another culprit: energy drinks and junk food.
According to the researchers, these products cripple developing brains with such an intense rush of dopamine hormones that they pose a 'unique' mental health risk to young people who consume too much.
Animal experiments have found an alarming link with taurine - an additive used in energy drinks.
Lead author Dr Christine Curran said it adds to concerns about them fueling teenage drinking as they are often mixed with alcohol.
Another study also published in Birth Defects Research: The Teenage Brain said takeway meals could cause cause young people to become drink or drug addicts as they get older - as well as pile on the pounds. Lead author Dr Amy Reichelt, of RMIT University in Melbourne, said junk food is not only not only bad for waistlines - but also for the teen brain.
Dr Curran said taurine is found in high levels in the developing brain - boosting neurons and connections between brain cells called synapses. Disruptions in levels of taurine have been reported in numerous studies of neurological disorders - including epilepsy and autism.
She said elderly people might benefit from taurine supplements - or caffeine with which energy drinks are also packed.
