A German cohort study found that women with major depressive disorder consumed more soft drinks than healthy controls. Higher intake was also tied to more severe depressive symptoms in women, but not in men. Analyses showed that soft drink intake in women was linked to greater abundance of the gut bacterium Eggerthella, which mediated part of the relationship between consumption and depression measures. Microbial diversity decreased with higher intake but was not directly tied to depression. The study was cross-sectional, relied on self-reported diet, and could not distinguish between sugar-sweetened and artificially sweetened beverages.

Source: JAMA Psychiatry