Thursday, June 11, 2009

Soda Pop Is Bad For You! (As If You Needed Me To Remind You . . . )

Chugging liters of cola may cause muscle harm

Greek doctors say swilling huge amounts of soda daily is not so uncommon

Reuters

NEW YORK - Drinking several liters of cola-containing soft drinks per day can cause a chronic depletion of potassium in the body, leading to muscle weakness and even paralysis, according to Greek doctors.

While you might think that "excessive soft drink consumption at this level is so rare that it is not a public health issue," writes the author of an accompanying editorial in the International Journal of Clinical Practice, "we have every reason to think that it is not rare."

Dr. Moses Elisaf and associates at the University of Ioannina, Greece identified six reports of cola-induced potassium deficiency published since 1994. Quantities of cola consumed ranged from 2 to 9 liters per day.

Muscle complaints ranged from mild weakness to profound paralysis, and all patients had abnormally low potassium levels in the blood.

"Fortunately," Elisaf and colleagues write, "all patients had a rapid and complete recovery after the discontinuation of cola ingestion and the oral or intravenous supplementation of potassium."

In his editorial, Dr. Clifford D. Packer at the Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center in Cleveland, Ohio, comments that "there is very little doubt that tens of millions of people in industrialized countries drink at least 2-3 L of cola per day."

Packer stresses that "the soft drink industry needs to promote safe and moderate use of its products for all age groups, reduce serving sizes, and pay heed to the rising call for healthier drinks."

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Thankfully, I don't have this problem. You'll rarely see me drink soda pop and when I do, there's not much of it. Believe me, when you stop drinking soda pop for some time, it tastes horrible when you start again. It's better to just avoid it all together. And when you run out of toilet/sink cleaner, just remember that your coke will do the job for you. ;) Gross.

It's probably rare to get to that point of drinking so much soda that you become paralyzed because of it but the point is that it isn't healthy (duh!) and there are better options out there (which taste a million times better!). Juice anyone? Chocolate milk? Tea or coffee? Everything in moderation . . .

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