Despite the denials of the beverage industry, there is a clear and definite link between cola consumption and bone loss

Sources

---

Cola and Osteoporosis
are connected, and the connection is
phosphoric acid.

Sodas have been described
by at least one author as
'Osteoporosis in a Can'.

Cola is definitely bad for bone...
but not all soft drinks are
bad for bone.

Specifically, it is a single ingredient in colas and soft drinks - phosphoric acid - that takes calcium out of the bones.

It is not the caffeine. It is not the artificial sweetener. Although there are other problems with caffeine and artificial sweeteners, it is not bone loss.

Calcium is removed from the body by phosphoric acid, and the calcium we lose ultimately comes from our bones.

And, yes, I know, we need phosphorus in our daily diet. Our food contains the phosphorus we need, but not in the form of a harmful acid.

We digest and absorb phosphorus in a variety of phosphates - a form where the phosphorus is attached to something else, like potassium or sodium.

Phosphates are readily available, as is calcium, in the plain, good food we should eat every day.

Just like calcium, phosphates are eaten, digested, reformed, and made usable to the body during the normal digestive process.

The problem is not phosphates - the problem is phosphoric acid.

Our bodies cannot use phosphorus in the form of phosphoric acid. Phosphoric acid (with an acidity or pH similar to normal stomach acid) 'sneaks past or through' the digestive process and changes the pH of the body in dangerous ways.

Phosphoric acid is most commonly consumed by drinking colas.

Phosphoric acid comes from rocks. Rocks containing phosphorus are crushed and powdered, then heated and mixed with sulphuric acid.

It is distilled several times, each time producing higher concentration and purity of acid.

It is classified by the Department of Transportation, as a Class 8 Corrosive Acid. It is filtered, purified, and pumped into hazardous material tankers, and delivered to the cola bottling companies.

There, it is diluted so that it is no longer poisonous; it is mixed with carbonated water, sugar (or worse, an artificial sweetener), caramel coloring, flavors, and secret sauce.

Finally, it is bottled, capped, shipped to a store - we buy it and drink it.

---

---

Why is phosphoric acid added to cola beverages? They call it a 'flavor enhancer'. It has no flavor, but it tingles our tongue... it has an acid 'bite', a tangy-ness that we like.

The sensation on our tongue is similar to the acetic acid in a vinaigrette dressing or a pickle. But vinegar is a naturally-formed product used in small amounts, while phosphoric acid is made from rocks and battery acid. Dark colas are often consumed throughout the day, every day, in large quantities.

Although the volume and concentration of the phosphoric acid is no longer poisonous in the cola beverage, the pH remains high enough to be toxic to us in at least two ways.

First, it shifts the normal pH of the blood to the acid side of the scale. Calcium normally floating in the bloodstream is used to buffer or neutralize the acidity, and an insoluble salt is formed. Through this mechanism the phosphoric acid is made harmless, and we can then eliminate it through the kidneys in our urine.

The calcium from the blood that was used to neutralize the acid is then replaced by calcium we previously stored in the body; this stored calcium is known as 'bone'.

We can lose bone faster than we can build new bone, and we can reach a point where we cannot catch up.

Second, the level of phosphorus remains elevated while the body processes and removes it, and other things happen. When phosphorus in the bloodstream is high, calcium in the bloodstream becomes low, because the free-floating calcium is quickly used to neutralize the phosphorus.

It takes a while longer for calcium to be broken down and removed from the bone to replace what was removed from the bloodstream.

Calcium-regulating hormones are called upon to restore balance. When this happens, PTH, or parathyroid hormone, is stimulated to begin a process that removes calcium from bone, and eliminates the extra phosphorus.

At some level beyond my understanding other hormones are involved, from pituitary, to adrenals, to insulin (regardless of it being a 'diet' beverage or not) in order to restore normal balance of calcium and phosphorus in the bloodstream.

In women, because of estrogen involvement, there can be measurable bone loss often leading to osteoporosis, as well as weight gain, inability to lose weight, hot flashes, and other disorders.

In men, because of male hormone involvement, there may be other symptoms including energy loss and formation of kidney stones.

Can you help someone? Who do you know who needs this information? Tell your friends.

There is concern that even one can of cola a day can be damaging when they are consumed during the peak bone-building years of childhood and adolescence.

A 1996 study published in the Journal of Nutrition by the FDA's Office of Special Nutritionals noted that a pattern of high phosphorus/low calcium consumption, common in the American diet, diminishes bone growth during those years when bone growth should be building toward peak bone mass in young women.

Some of the early research came from Grace Wyshak of Harvard. In 1994 Dr. Wyshak published a report showing a relationship of soft drinks to increased fractures in active young girls. Active girls who drank colas were about five times more likely to suffer bone fractures than active girls who did not drink colas.

In 2000, Dr. Neville Golden wrote an editorial in the Archives of Adolescent Medicine, in which he writes 'osteoporosis is a pediatric disease with geriatric consequences'; meaning, of course, that we establish bone loss early, and it shows up as a problem decades later.

Osteoporosis can be so simple to prevent!

If you drink a cola beverage, I suggest you ask yourself what it is you like about it. Is it the flavor? The ice cubes? The fizz?

There is nothing good about colas - there is simply no benefit to them. And there are significant health problems related to them.

Make a new choice; find a replacement for the dark beverages.

And read the label, just in case.

We have found a few root-beers that include phosphoric acid, and we know of at least one cream soda, one vanilla soda, and a popular bottled green-tea-with-citrus beverage that includes phosphoric acid.

Why not start now?

Don't wait - you haven't got time.

Get ahead of the game. Make this change for yourself, right now.

You are worth it.

Doc

Top of Page

Osteoporosis Home Page

---

---

Here are a few additional resources you might check out.

• From PBS: For Educators - An excellent in-class lesson plan about soft drinks
  

• From Dr. Susan Brown, Bone Builders: Problems with pH Go to 'Grab an Un-Cola' halfway down the page
  

• From a guy in Los Gatos: A Bone To Pick With Cola This is so simple and understandable, I wish I had written it myself
  

• From Dr. Judith Valentine, westonaprice.org: Soft Drinks - America's Other Drinking Problem
  

• From the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest: Liquid Candy (Click on the word 'report' in the second paragraph)
  

• From Mayo Clinic Proceedings: Does Consumption of Cola Beverages Cause Bone Fractures in Children? Information about cola has been available for some time now.
  

• From Katherine L. Tucker, Ph.D., American Society for Bone and Mineral Research. This is the report from 2003 that is finally making headlines in the popular press. You should Subscribe to our Osteo-Update eNewsletter! - we get this information to you much sooner!
  

• From Cornell University - an incredibly boring slide show (NS341) Human Anatomy and Physiology, Bone/Joint Page Bone lectures #1 and #2 - A basic overview of how bone is remodeled, the role of acid in bone break-down, and collagen structure of bone. Doctors: If you speak with your patients about osteoporosis or osteopenia, you should review this presentation - the answer to bone loss does not lie with drugs, it is the acid that breaks down bones, and quality of the collagen that builds them. Give them a natural approach!
  

• Soft drinks: Unsafe beveragesFrom www.annieappleseedproject.org. A broad variety of other health-related sources
  

• From Weston A Price Foundation: The Beverage Issue
  

• From the Journal of Dental Research An abstract that reports the erosive potential (on teeth) was ten-fold higher in cola drinks compared with juices. Phosphoric acid is used to etch (chemically dissolve and roughen) the enamel surface of teeth prior to bonding.
  

• From Prevention Institute: Nutrition Policy Profiles - Soft drink contracts in schools An important read, impressive sources
  

• From the National Kidney Foundation: Phosphorus and your CKD (Chronic Kidney Disease) diet
  

---

Top of Cola Phosphoric Acid Page