Soda the Cause of Bone Loss?
Did you know that soda might be the cause of bone loss? Everyone knows that sodas, pops, and fizzy drinks are chock full of sugars, additives, chemicals, and other unhealthy ingredients. However, soda might be even worse for you than you thought. Soda and carbonation have been shown to cause low bone density and osteoporosis, not just in adults or the elderly, but in children as well. In fact, soda may be one of the leading causes of the increase doctors have seen in bone loss and low bone density in the last decade or so.
In one study conducted by the U.S. Department of Agricultural Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University, researchers studied men and women under the age of 60 and their soda consumption.The researchers at Tuft’s measured the bone mineral density of the participant and compared it with how often and how much soda they drank. The participants who drank more soda experienced more bone loss. The bone loss was also much more pronounced in women than it was in men.
In a another study on the effects of soda on bone loss, it was found that soda not only causes low bone density, the carbonation in soda may actually be stealing the calcium from your bones. Researchers found that young, healthy women who consumed diet soda excreted more calcium and phosphorus, both important to bone health, than the control group who drank no soda. Some researchers believe that the carbonation in soda may have a role in stealing the calcium from your bones and excreting it from your body.
Before you start drinking flat soda however, it might not be just the carbonation in soda that causes low bone density. Vitamin D, an important building block for strong bones, is also affected by soda. More specifically, vitamin D is fat soluble, which means the body’s fat cells may be hoarding its vitamin D in obese children and adults. Vitamin D deficiency can have catastrophic affects on your bones, especially if left untreated. People who drink more soda are more likely to be overweight or obese, trapping their vitamin D.
Not all of the reasons for the increase in osteoporosis and low bone density are in the last 10 years are known, but cutting back on your soda intake may save your bones in the future.
