Drinking cola may increase risk to women’s bones

Ex-Lemmingworks. ##.

As part of my course on critical thinking, I ‘ban’ cola from class. It is a bit of a joke, because I also tell students that I have no right to do it, but I want them to think professionally and critically about everything, including food choices, especially in front of children. I had found some information, but today CBC and a pile of other news sources had another article on it. See CBC’s: Drinking cola may increase risk to women’s bones. Get the full study: Colas, but not other carbonated beverages, are associated with low bone mineral density in older women: The Framingham Osteoporosis Study — Tucker et al. 84 (4): 936 — American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

This year they caught on quickly, and we added Aspartame which is something in my gum, when some wit decided to wisely call my habits into question. I thought this was great, because I’d never even thought of the problem. I have switched to Spry Gum which tastes better, and actually costs about the same, though according to google (Trident gum - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) Trident gum also contains Xylitol (Xylitol - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) as does Spry Gum. Xylitol is produced naturally in the human body, and according to these links is actually GOOD for your teeth (see Trident FAQs). So now we have a new sweetner.

Now, if we can get fizzy drinks sweetened with Xylitol and without phosphoric acid (which according to this link is primarily used in soaps, detergents and fertilizers) which is the chemical reported to cause problems in colas, we’ll be in a better place. I wonder what people think about drinking something that is marketted as a rust remover… the Wikipedia page on phosphoric acid is particularly interesting, talking about why it is used, in place of other options.

Who says what you learn at school isn’t useful!!!