Study: Soda-Drinking Mice Die Earlier
Mouse Investigates Sugar Cube Douglas H. Cornwall, University of Utah An unusual "semi-natural" lab setup quantifies ill effects in mice drinking the equivalent of three sodas a day. Well, good thing this never quite happens to humans. Or does it? In an unusual study, a team of biologists raised a bunch of wild mice-not the docile lab mice most scientists use-on a healthy diet, plus a sugar mix that's roughly equivalent to drinking three sodas a day as a human. Then, the scientists stuck their mice in a natural environment where they had to compete against wild mice that hadn't been raised on the sugar water. The research team found "soda"-drinking female mice had shorter lifespans. Their male counterparts fathered fewer pups, likely because they weren't as good as males raised without sugar water at defending territories. Soda-drinking female mice had shorter lifespans, and their male counterparts fathered fewer pups.The study is...