Colas and Your Bones

Drinking too many colas may seriously weaken your bones.

Researchers at Tufts University recently found that women who drank at least one 12-ounce cola daily over four years had up to 5 percent lower bone-mineral density than women who drank fewer than one a week.

Some experts had thought cola guzzlers seemed to have lower bone density because they consumed the fizzy stuff in place of milk; but everyone in this latest study drank the same amount of milk, so the scientists now think the phosphoric acid added to colas (but not other soft drinks) for tartness interferes with your body's absorption of calcium in food.

Health, Jan/Feb 2004