Time To Cut Back On The Colas
According to a recent article on the “Scientific American” website, a new study shows that cola consumption can be linked to weaker bones in women. The study conducted by Dr. Katherine L. Tucker of Tufts University in Boston, was made up of more than 2,500 adults, 1,413 women and 1,125 men, and found that women who consumed cola daily had lower bone mineral density(BMD) in their hips as compared to those women who drank less than one cola per month.
The authors wrote in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, “Because BMD is strongly linked with fracture risk, and because cola is a popular beverage, this is of considerable public health importance.” Previous studies in teen girls have linked heavy cola consumption to lower BMD and fractures, but it is not clear if this is due to harmful effects of the cola itself, or if the teen girls were drinking less milk.
The study shows that cola consumption has no affect on BMD in men. Also, “women who drank more cola did not drink less milk, but they did consume less calcium and had lower intakes of phosphorous in relation to calcium.” The researchers noted that cola contains phosphoric acid, which impairs the absorption of calcium and increases the excretion more of the minerals.
