Drinking Cola May Harm Bones

[alfreda89]

Study Finds That Drinking Cola May Harm Bones

According to the National Osteoporosis Foundation, roughly 55% of Americans,
mostly women, are at risk of developing osteoporosis, a disease which leaves
bones weak and more likely to fracture. Complications from hip fractures are a
common cause of disability and even death in women as they age. Now, a
recent study reported in the October 2006 American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
has found that drinking regular, diet, and decaffeinated cola drinks - such as
Pepsi-Cola or Coca-Cola - on a regular basis may contribute to lower bone
density and put women at increased risk for osteoporosis.

Researchers at the Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts
University analyzed data from 2,500 men and women who were part of the
Framingham Osteoporosis Study. The average age of those studied was just
under 60. In women, cola consumption was associated with lower bone mineral
density at three different areas of the hip, regardless of factors such as age,
menopausal status, total calcium and vitamin D intake, or use of cigarettes or
alcohol. However, cola consumption was not associated with lower bone mineral
density for men at the hip sites, or the spine for either men or women. The results
were similar for diet cola and, although weaker, for decaffeinated cola as well.

"The more cola that women drank, the lower their bone mineral density was,"
said Katherine Tucker, PhD. study author and director of the Epidemiology and
Dietary Assessment Program at Tufts University, in a press release. "However,
we did not see an association with bone mineral density loss for women who
drank carbonated beverages that were not cola." Some research suggests that
the phosphoric acid contained in colas may block calcium absorption. Another
contributing factor may be that drinking colas is replacing low fat milk and other
healthier beverages.

"There is no concrete evidence that an occasional cola will harm the bones,"
says Tucker. "However, women concerned about osteoporosis may want to steer
away from frequent consumption of cola until further studies are conducted."

Comments

[lagilman]

I shall be frail, but really, really alert...

(since I can't digest most dairy products anyway, missing out on a glass of milk isn't going to make much of a difference.)

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I get my calcium from horse pills. I weened myself off colas years ago. My biggest vice now is Blue Sky Jamaican Ginger Ale Light -- only 50 calories of sugar, no corn syrup. It is wwwonnnundeerrrrfulll.

[christymarx.livejournal.com]

I read about this many years ago and it was the reason I sharply curtailed my cola drinking since then.

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

Yes, between trouble with aspartane and suspicions about corn syrup, I said good-bye to colas many years ago. Now, an occasional root beer or light Blue Sky ginger ale is all I do.

Of course my father tells me not to put lemon in my water too often -- etching the teeth. But the water tastes so bad to me right now!

[starcat-jewel.livejournal.com]

Well. How convenient that I've decided to dump my coke-drinking habit as far as possible, though that was more about getting HFCS out of my diet than anything else. I'd been drinking one can per day (which was itself a cut-back from my habits of several years ago), but now I'm only drinking it at all on con/show weekends.

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

I've dropped back to an occasional diet root beer or Lite Ginger Ale (Blue Sky) so this info was for friends who mainline the stuff (like my little sister.)

Some days it feels like we were the generation that got to have this stuff -- and now is ruthlessly peeling it away from our lives and health.