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in science there is nothing wrong with saying that a correlation is highly suggestive of any given hypothesis - that's how it's supposed to work.

This is absolutely how it is supposed to work, and it wasn't all that long ago that it did work in this manner. Unfortunately, this article serves as an excellent example of just how far we've fallen.

I'm assuming that the authors have not released the study yet, so we have no idea what the correlation factor is. Is it .3 or 1? My BS meter tells me we'll never know what this factor is because these guys are making a major league stretch with this nonsense to begin with, and they are quite content to let the press run with what little information they've provided so they will deliver to the public flagrantly misleading information exactly like what is contained in this article. The media is doing exactly what is expected of them so that the researchers can justify the additional money needed to conduct the studies to prove whether or not the correlation is valid. This is a common occurrence today and it is truly unfortunate.

The article makes this ridiculous claim:

Even after taking into account other factors, such as family violence, kids who drink soft drinks showed increased aggressive behaviour.

We don't know if this is something the researchers claimed, or if this is just an idiot journalist making it up as he goes. There is no way you can control for these factors and the result is a false conclusion. There is nothing scientific about this at all. It will be interesting to learn where this study gets published. That will tell you a great deal. Again, it wasn't all that long ago that this kind of junk would never make it to a legit publication, and the authors would get laughed at.

I did manage to come across a study conducted by the University of New South Wales and Queensland University that found having a sweet beverage reduced aggression and stress in people. These guys claimed their research showed that the glucose in sugary drinks caused a neuronal energy boost that improved brain function that would result in the ability to better control one’s impulses. The study concluded that “Consuming a sweetened beverage on the commute home following a stressful day could reduce aggression toward family members or fellow drivers.

Sweet drinks reduce stress and aggression

This study was actually published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. I cannot vouch for the reliability or the peer review process for this particular publication. However, it shows that if you look hard enough, you can find research to support just about any position you want to take when it comes to health studies. Like I said earlier, 95% of research ends up being meaningless. But hey, when you're spending taxpayer money to help the children, and save us from ourselves, what could possibly be wrong with that?