Scientists find age-related links between beverage choices and mental health risks

A large study has found that different types of beverages are linked to the likelihood of developing depression and anxiety disorders. The study, published in the Journal of Affective Disorders, found that higher intake of sugary and artificially sweetened drinks was related to a greater risk of depression among younger adults, while fruit juices and coffee were associated with a lower risk of both depression and anxiety across age groups.

The researchers, based at Wenzhou Medical University in China, conducted the study to explore how beverage choices might influence the risk of depression and anxiety disorders. While previous studies have suggested possible links between diet and mental health, most focused on broad dietary patterns or small groups. There has been less clarity on how specific beverages relate to mental health outcomes, especially across different age groups.

With mental health conditions on the rise globally, the research team wanted to examine whether commonly consumed drinks—like sugary soft drinks, diet beverages, fruit juice, coffee, milk, and tea—are linked to long-term mental health outcomes, and whether replacing one type of beverage with another might make a difference.

To answer these questions, the researchers used data from the UK Biobank, a large-scale health study that follows over 500,000 people in the United Kingdom. For this study, they focused on 188,355 adults between the ages of 37 and 73. Participants had completed one or more online diet surveys between 2009 and 2012.

These surveys recorded how many servings of specific beverages participants had consumed the previous day. One serving was defined as a glass, can, carton, or 250 milliliters. The study tracked six types of drinks: sugar-sweetened beverages (like soft drinks), artificially sweetened beverages (such as diet sodas), pure fruit and vegetable juices, milk, coffee, and tea.

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To determine mental health outcomes, the researchers analyzed 11 years worth of hospital and primary care records. They identified new diagnoses of depression and anxiety using standardized medical codes. People who already had depression or anxiety at the start of the study were excluded. The analysis adjusted for a wide range of lifestyle, dietary, and health factors that might influence mental health, including age, sex, socioeconomic status, physical activity, body weight, sleep habits, smoking, alcohol use, and overall diet quality.

Over the follow-up period, more than 5,800 participants developed depression and over 6,400 developed anxiety disorders. Among people under age 60, those who drank more than one serving of sugar-sweetened beverages per day had a 14 percent higher risk of developing depression compared to those who avoided them. Similarly, those who drank more than one serving of artificially sweetened drinks per day had a 23 percent higher risk. On the other hand, people under 60 who consumed more than one serving of pure fruit or vegetable juice each day had a 19 percent lower risk of depression, while those who drank coffee regularly had a 12 percent lower risk. Coffee was also linked to a reduced risk of anxiety in this age group.

In people aged 60 and older, the patterns were somewhat different. There was no clear link between sugary or artificially sweetened drinks and mental health. However, drinking more pure fruit or vegetable juice and coffee was again associated with a lower risk of both depression and anxiety. Tea and milk did not show consistent relationships with either condition, although replacing milk with coffee or juice in this older group was associated with reduced risk.

To better understand how beverage swaps might influence mental health, the researchers performed a substitution analysis. This method estimates what might happen if one type of drink is replaced by another. For adults under 60, replacing one daily serving of a sugar-sweetened drink with a serving of pure fruit juice or coffee was linked to a significantly lower risk of both depression and anxiety. For example, switching from soda to juice was associated with a 16 percent lower risk of depression. For older adults, replacing milk with fruit juice or coffee was associated with a lower risk of both conditions.

The study’s findings remained consistent across various types of statistical analyses. These included removing participants who were current smokers or had early diagnoses, testing the results using different models, and examining the effects over shorter and longer time frames. These steps were taken to reduce the chance that the results could be explained by other factors or by changes in behavior that occurred after early symptoms of mental illness.

Despite its large sample size, the study has some limitations to consider. First, it relied on medical records to identify depression and anxiety diagnoses, which might miss milder cases that never reached clinical attention. The researchers also acknowledged that their findings are observational. This means they can show associations, but not prove that the beverages themselves caused the mental health outcomes. It is possible that people who were already at higher risk for depression or anxiety tended to drink more sweetened beverages, rather than the other way around.

The study, “Ages-specific beverage consumption and its association with depression and anxiety disorders: A prospective cohort study in 188,355 participants,” was authored by Jiali Xie, Zhixian Huang, Yinan Mo, Yixuan Pan, Yubin Ruan, Wen Cao, Yinuo Chen, Yaojia Li, Kezheng Li, Danqing Yu, and Binbin Deng.