Here’s something soda guzzlers might want to keep in mind the next time they guzzle down their favorite fizzy – it may contribute to memory loss. More specifically, Alzheimer’s disease.

That’s according to the latest research conducted on the hazards of soda pop.

The study’s lead researcher, Ling Li, wanted to see how rats fed diets high in sugar would respond after about a half-year of being straw-fed the sweet stuff regularly and compare the rats’ response to those rats fed normal rat diets (whatever a “normal” rat diet is).

At the conclusion of the 25-week study, there were some significant differences between the two rat packs. For one thing, the rats fed the steady diet of sugar water gained almost 20 percent more weight than the other. Secondly, the weighed-down rodents’ cholesterol levels increased and developed tell-tale symptoms for diabetes (e.g. insulin resistance).

For anyone familiar with the health hazards of soda, this isn’t too surprising. What was surprising, though, was how the soda seemed to affect their brain chemistry and their response to certain stimuli.

For instance, when the rats were put through mazes, one of the groups was able to remember where the open areas were and which areas were blocked off. The other displayed diminished memorization abilities.

Guess which one?

The soda-sipping rats exhibited another brain problem, this one more chemically-related. Similar to Alzheimer’s patients, where there’s a high concentration of a plaque called amyloid deposits, the rats drunk on tonic (east coast slang for “soda”) had over twice the amount of this plaguing plaque than the regular rodents.

As with virtually all studies, more research needs to be done before researchers can be certain that it was the sweetened water that caused such devastating findings with regards to mental impairment, both in capacity and composition. In the meantime, the researchers say that the amount of sugared water the rats consumed per day is the equivalent to about five cans of soda per day for the human. By any standard, that’s a whole heck of a lot of soda, but given the fact that soda is the most purchased grocery in grocery stores – and has been for quite some time – don’t be at all surprised if such a souped-up serving is commonplace among soda-pop sympathizers.

I can’t stress enough how important it is to stop drinking soda. They are literal barren wastelands of nutrition, even those that are diet (in fact, many studies suggest that diet sodas are worse than the regular kind). If soda is something that you’ve been trying to wean yourself off of, make it a priority in the coming weeks to cease and desist from drinking soda. Even better, with 2009 just around the corner, make it a new year’s resolution!