Is There Connection between Benzoates from Soft Drinks and Hyperac- Tivity among Osijek Preschool Children?

1University of Osijek, Faculty of Medicine, Josipa Huttlera 4, 31 000 Osijek, Croatia 2Institute of Public Health for the Osijek-Baranja County, Franje Krežme 1, 31 000 Osijek, Croatia 3University of Zagreb, School of Medicine, Andrija Štampar School of Public Health, Rockefellerova 4, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia Original scientific paper Summary Introduction: Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common childhoodonset psychiatric disorders. The impact of certain food additives, preservatives and artificial colorings on the prevalence of this disorder is still controversial and not fully explored. Aim: To explore the possible connection between benzoates from soft drinks and hyperactivity among Osijek preschool children. Materials and methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted during April and May 2007 in Osijek, Eastern Croatia. A special questionnaire was administered to parents of 810 preschool children from kindergartens in Osijek (aged 5.9±0.7 years; 401/810, 49.5% boys and 409/810, 50.5% girls) during April and May 2007. The questionnaire contained questions on the preschool children age, gender, weight, average daily intake of soft drinks, type of soft drink consumed, food allergy and ten-item parents Conner’s index for ADHD diagnose. The concentration of benzoates in 50 commercially available soft drinks was determined by the method of high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with UV detector. Results: Among all preschool children there were only 4.9% (40/810) of them who did not drink soft drinks. The mean concentration of benzoates in all samples was 97.7±26.7 mg/L. The questionnaire revealed that 95.1% (770/810) of study subjects consuming soft drinks were taking a mean of 0.6 L of soft drink per day, containing 58.6 mg of benzoates. Among those who did drink soft drinks there were 8.6% (66/770) of them positive for ADHD and none in group who did not. Conclusion: ADHD is more common in the group of children who consume soft drinks and in that way intake larger amount of benzoates. It is not clear do these benzoates produce ADHD or just further facilitate ADHD that already exists. Further investigations are needed.