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Dangers of Cola and Soft Drinks
Dangers of cola and soft drinks result in an increased risk of obesity and diabetes, regular consumption of cola also leads to lower bone mineral density in older women and increase their risk of osteoporosis, according to a new study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. With apologies to George Thorogood & the Destroyers, Cola is B-B-B-Bad, B-B-B-Bad, Bad to the bone!
Osteoporosis is a progressive, silent disease and is often misunderstood as a natural consequence of aging. Four times as many women will develop osteoporosis than men and currently 10 million Americans suffer from it. It is a disease in which bones become fragile and more likely to break. If not prevented or if left untreated, osteoporosis can progress painlessly until a bone breaks. These broken bones, also known as fractures, occur typically in the hip, spine, and wrist. A hip fracture requires hospitalization and major surgery.
Osteoporosis is preventable and the nearly 34 million Americans who have the potential to develop the disease can take steps to prevent it. Phosphoric acid, found in cola, is a risk factor for osteoporosis has been shown to reduce calcium absorption. Additionally, it is believed that high fructose corn syrup also weakens bone. It is important to note that at least one previous study showed a link between cola consumption and increases in the amount of calcium measured in urine.
It is well known that too much soda can increase the risk of diabetes and obesity. But when it comes to kidney problems, is there a difference between colas and other kinds of soda?
Colas contain high levels of phosphoric acid, which has been linked to kidney stones and other renal problems.
Much of this conclusion stems from anecdotal and circumstantial evidence. So last year, a team of scientists at the National Institutes of Health took a closer look.
In a study published in the journal Epidemiology, the team compared the dietary habits of 465 people with chronic kidney disease and 467 healthy people. After controlling for various factors, the team found that drinking two or more colas a day — whether artificially sweetened or regular — was linked to a twofold risk of chronic kidney disease.
But drinking two or more noncola carbonated drinks a day, they found, did not increase the risk.
The authors of the study say more research is needed, but their findings support the long-held notion that something about cola — the phosphoric acid, for example, or the ability of cola to pull calcium from bones — seems to increase the risk of kidney stones, renal failure and other conditions affecting the kidneys. The bottom line is that there is good evidence that cola beverages can increase the risk of kidney problems, more so than non-cola sodas.
Research at Tuft University in Boston analyzed dietary questionnaires submitted by 1,125 men and 1,413 women between the ages of 29 and 86. Overall, participants were largely former smokers and moderate drinkers who were slightly overweight and, on average, men drank cola five times a week while women drank it four times a week.
Density measurements show cola consumption significantly reduced bone mass in the hip regardless of the woman’s age, menopausal status, intake of calcium and vitamin D and her history of smoking and alcohol consumption. Diet cola had a similar affect on women’s bone density. By contrast, the bone density of men was not similarly affected.
The Tuft study shows that women are more sensitive to the effects of cola than men. Researchers ruled out the possibility that cola replaces healthier beverages, such as milk, in the diet that might lead to lower bone density. And to the point of gender, they suggest that more physical activity, a diet higher in calcium and different hormone levels might help protect males from the downside of drinking cola. Until further research is done, however, women (and men) can keep their bones strong with regular weight-bearing exercise and high intake of calcium, vitamin D and magnesium.
Reporting in The Lancet, a British medical journal, a team of Harvard researchers presented the first evidence linking soft drink consumption to childhood obesity. They found that 12-year-olds who drank soft drinks regularly were more likely to be overweight than those who didn't.
For each additional daily serving of sugar-sweetened soft drink consumed during the nearly two-year study, the risk of obesity increased 1.6 times.
Obesity experts called the Harvard findings important and praised the study. The Harvard researchers spent 19 months following the children, rather than capturing a snapshot of data from just one day. It's considered statistically more valuable to conduct a study over a long period of time.
Researchers found that schoolchildren who drank soft drinks consumed almost 200 more calories per day than their counterparts who didn't down soft drinks.
A review of published studies shows a clear and consistent relationship between drinking sugary (non-diet) soft drinks and poor nutrition, increased risk for obesity -- and increased risk for diabetes.
There is no denying that sugar-loaded soft drinks are having "a negative impact on health," Dr. Kelly Brownell, director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut.
Having analyzed and reviewed 88 studies on the issue, Brownell and his colleagues conclude that recommendations to curb soft drink consumption on a population level are strongly supported by the available scientific evidence.
Results of a study of more than 91,000 women followed for 8 years provides one of the "most striking" links between soft drinks and health outcomes, the investigators note in the American Journal of Public Health.
In the study, women who drank one or more sodas per day -- an amount less than the U.S. national average -- were twice as likely as those who drank less than one soda per month to develop diabetes over the course of the study.
When diet soda replaced regular soda in the analysis, there was no increased risk, suggesting that the risk was specific to sugar-sweetened soft drinks.
This result alone, warrants serious concern about soft drink intake, particularly in light of the unprecedented rise in type 2 diabetes in children.
The data reviewed by Brownell's team also show that higher intake of sugary sodas goes hand in hand with lower intake of milk, calcium and other essential nutrients, fruit and fiber, and higher intake of carbohydrates.
Furthermore, there was a "remarkable difference" in results from industry-funded and non-industry-funded studies on soft drink consumption and health outcomes, Brownell said, "with the industry-funded studies much more likely to find the results favorable to industry."
"The bigger issue here, in this arena in particular but in science in general," Brownell said, "is how you can get a distorted view of reality if industry-funded studies are considered in the mix -- and usually they are -- especially, when industry uses these studies in advertising, lobbying, and in talking to the press."
When it comes to soft drink consumption among America's youth, Brownell added, "the decisions parents make are one thing, but the relentless marketing to children is another."
He supports the growing trend toward banning soda sales in schools. "I believe schools should be a commercial-free zone and that beverages that are contributing to ill health should not be sold there," Brownell said.
A new health scare erupted over soft drinks recently amid evidence they may cause serious cell damage. Research from a British university suggests a common preservative found in drinks such as Fanta and Pepsi Max has the ability to switch off vital parts of DNA.
The problem - more usually associated with aging and alcohol abuse - can eventually lead to cirrhosis of the liver and degenerative diseases such as Parkinson's.
The findings could have serious consequences for the hundreds of millions of people worldwide who consume fizzy drinks. They will also intensify the controversy about food additives, which have been linked to hyperactivity in children.
Concerns center on the safety of E211, known as sodium benzoate, a preservative used for decades by the £74bn global carbonated drinks industry. Sodium benzoate derives from benzoic acid. It occurs naturally in berries, but is used in large quantities to prevent mould in soft drinks such as Sprite, Oasis and Dr Pepper. It is also added to pickles and sauces.
Sodium benzoate has already been the subject of concern about cancer because when mixed with the additive vitamin C in soft drinks, it causes benzene, a carcinogenic substance. A Food Standards Agency survey of benzene in drinks last year found high levels in four brands which were removed from sale.
Now, an expert in aging at Sheffield University, who has been working on sodium benzoate since publishing a research paper in 1999, has decided to speak out about another danger. Professor Peter Piper, a professor of molecular biology and biotechnology, tested the impact of sodium benzoate on living yeast cells in his laboratory. What he found alarmed him: the benzoate was damaging an important area of DNA in the "power station" of cells known as the mitochondria.
These chemicals have the ability to cause severe damage to DNA in the mitochondria to the point that they totally inactivate it: they knock it out altogether.
The mitochondria consumes the oxygen to give you energy and if you damage it - as happens in a number if diseased states - then the cell starts to malfunction very seriously. And there is a whole array of diseases that are now being tied to damage to this DNA - Parkinson's and quite a lot of neuro-degenerative diseases, but above all the whole process of aging.
A review of sodium benzoate by the World Health Organization in 2000 concluded that it was safe, but it noted that the available science supporting its safety was "limited".
Professor Piper, whose work has been funded by a government research council, said tests conducted by the US Food and Drug Administration were out of date.
"The food industry will say these compounds have been tested and they are complete safe," he said. "By the criteria of modern safety testing, the safety tests were inadequate. Like all things, safety testing moves forward and you can conduct a much more rigorous safety test than you could 50 years ago."
He advised parents to think carefully about buying drinks with preservatives until the quantities in products were proved safe by new tests. "My concern is for children who are drinking large amounts," he said.
Coca-Cola, Pepsi Max and Diet Pepsi all contain sodium benzoate.
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