Those who have at least one sugar-sweetened soda every day have a 33 percent greater likelihood of developing kidney stones compared with those who drink fewer than one serving a week. The researchers from Boston and Rome analyzed dietary data from 194,000 participants over the course of a decade or more and found associations between certain beverages — such as fruit punch and sugary sodas — and increased kidney stone risk.Boston Globe: Prevent kidney stones: drink coffee but not cola?
Friday, May 24, 2013
Cutting cola can save you some serious pain
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The article in Boston Globe says, “the researchers provided a plausible explanation: ... "The high sugar content in these drinks increases the kidney’s excretion of calcium and other substances, which can combine and crystallize into stones.”
I think the "researchers" have missed the greater possibility, that it is phosphoric acid — not "sugar" — that does the dirty trick. Colas, including the "diet" varieties, have added phosphoric acid. Unlike the organic acids (e.g. citric acid, malic acid) naturally present in fruit juices, added phosphoric acid cannot be oxidized away by the body. To maintain the correct acid-base ratio (pH) in blood, the body allows calcium from bones to be dissolved out. This calcium will have to be excreted through the kidney, and may end up as "stones". Another adverse effect is osteoporosis. There are, of course, other types of kidney stones, like calcium oxalate, but the most likely explanation is the phosphate.
Therefore, avoid colas, and also artificial fruit-flavoured drinks.
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