Do you like kidney stones? Great! Coke and Pepsi are the drinks for you. Researchers at the National Institutes of Health found that drinking just two cans of cola per day doubles the risk of chronic kidney disease.
In a study published in the journal Epidemiology, the team compared the dietary habits of 465 people with chronic kidney disease and 467 healthy people. After controlling for various factors, the team found that drinking two or more colas a day — whether artificially sweetened or regular — was linked to a twofold risk of chronic kidney disease.
Drinks without high levels of phosphoric acid—seltzer and other “noncola carbonated beverages”—don’t seem to anger kidneys.
The Claim: Too Much Cola Can Cause Kidney Problems [NYT] (Thanks to Sacha!)
Carbonated Beverages and Chronic Kidney Disease [Epidemiology]
PREVIOUSLY: Is Drinking 12 Diet Cokes A Day Healthy? Coke Thinks So.
(Photo: So Cal Metro)
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Good, let me keep chugging my 7UP or Sprite
So maybe it IS a good thing I kicked CocaCola for Monster. Well, good for my kidneys, bad for my blood pressure. If it ain’t one thing…
I was going to say “JUST two cans”? But there was that period a couple years ago where I was drinking about 2 cans of diet coke per day.
man i’m still a coke-head. i get accused of coke abuse when i leave half drank cokes around.
@TechnoDestructo: well i’m a bit sick, but i drink about 6 per day. have for years.
@aaron8301: Ugh, seriously? Just the price of that stuff is enough to drive me away without ever trying it…
Kicking sugar-water drinks (mostly diet coke for me) was a battle. No ill to current drinkers, but results like these sure make me glad those drinks are in my past.
I wonder at what point the healthcare costs from the vast numbers of junk-drink consumers will outweigh costs from nicotine.
@azntg: this article (though seems to just be common sense) does open my eyes to my bad habit though. if sprite or seven up really is better, i would switch. i’m assuming by your comment that they have low levels of phosphoric acid. don’t have one near by to check.
Easy solution coke: Take phosphoric acid out of the recipe! You can’t seriously expect people to stop drinking that liquid crack.
A study done on less than a 1000 people just doesn’t impress me as being all that accurate.
I stopped drinking Cokes for a few months a couple of years ago and lost 35 pounds without even really dieting. But now I am back up to 2-3 a day and trying to quit again is HARD!
Sometimes I wonder if the soda companies put something in them to make the caffeine more addicting, like the cigarette companies do to the nicotine in their product? People seem to have such a hard time when they try to quit drinking them.
Hmmm I would wonder if this is related to High Fructose Corn Syrup rather than Cola per se.
They mention Natural Sweetener vs. artificial sweetener but don’t mention HFCS (which is a “natural” sweetener only in the loosest sense of the word IMHO.
God damnit. I drink alcohol in moderation, don’t smoke, try to eat as healthy as possible for a college student, and get by ONLY on diet coke. WHY DID I HAVE TO READ THIS?
Crap! At the movie theatre where I work emploies are allowed practialy unlimited amounts of soda. So like everyone else working there nearly half my diet is pepsi! (The other half of my diet is of course the unlimited free popcorn.)
@Omi: lol
Meh, everything is bad for you. The chair you are sitting on right now is probably giving you cancer. Seriously.
“The authors of the study say more research is needed”
@dvsman: Fructose comes from fruit. Can’t get much more natural than that.
@swalve:
HFCS is evil.
First off, the fact that they are studying people who HAVE chronic kidney disease and not studying what people are doing up to when they develop chronic kidney disease is an important distinction. It cannot be assumed that the habits of people WITH a disease are the same as people who may yet develop that disease.
Secondly, and more importantly, lets look at the risk multiplier. It says the study found drinking 2 cans of soda doubles your risk of kidney disease. Remember though, that its doubling the ordinary risk of kidney disease which is still quite small. 1 times 2 is still just 2. Twice not much risk is still probably not much risk. That’s the key thing to remember whenever you hear that something doubles your risk of some other bad thing. Your risk of getting that bad thing probably isn’t high to begin with, so doubling it isn’t going to get that much higher. Smoking, for instance, increases cancer risk by 10 to 20 times. That’s 1000%-2000% increased risk. A 100% increase is just a lot smaller and not something to panic about every time an initial study comes out that gets the media all a flutter.
Everything is bad for you. Life is the ultimate terminal illness, so pick your battles.
One point that I’d like to point out over every “OMG, this is going to kill you” article is that people also get cancer right out of the blue, even if they’ve never smoked, drank, or swilled Coca-Cola out of a 55-gallon drum. You could also get killed tomorrow by a bus.
My uncle died from pancreatic cancer at 60, and he never smoke, drank, or gambled, so you can still do everything absolutely right and die earlier than somebody who broke every rule in the book.
@swalve: Fructose comes from fruit.
It can, but the fructose found in HFCS comes from highly processed corn combined with toad eyes and cat urine. Okay, no eyes or urine, but neither is there a fruit component.
Why is this news to anyone? It’s common knowledge that colas cause kidney stones — ask any doctor what the first question is that they ask kidney stone patients, and they’ll tell you they ask “do you drink a lot of cokes?”. Old news.
Dr. pepper or dew for me, both pepsi and coke are pretty nasty.
The last time I decided to support coca-cola was this:
I was in the store and picked up a case. After I left and went home, while I was putting the case away I looked underneath it and it said something along the lines of this:
“Coca Cola is Refreshing, Rehydrating and Good for you because it contains water, the most essential nutrient!”
As I recall, the last time I heard that was when one of the stooges who works for the food and beverage industry decided to step up to the microphone and give a speech to god knows who. I think his quote went something like “Soda contains water, and I think that’s nutritious”
Whatever. I will continue to drink my two to three Zeros a day, which are a little slice of liquid heaven, and make me happy. Why should I give them up on the CHANCE that some study of a few people is right, and I have twice the chance of developing stones? I could kick from a heart attack, or get run over tomorrow. I’ll go pop open a pop right now.
I’ve managed to reduce my soda intake to an allotment of 8 (2x 4-pack) Jone’s pure cane sodas a week. A lot of my drink intake has been switched to pressed/squeezed juices and water.
Heaven is a cold glass of Martinelli’s Unfiltered Apple Juice. srsly.
Seven up has phosphoric acid in it also. I thought that was going to be my way around not drinking coke anymore until I read the label. Phosphoric acid can also deplete the magnesium in your system leading to magnesium deficiency that can cause muscle cramps and all sorts of things. According to some dentists drinking lots of soda will do worse things to your teeth than meth will. Oddly enough orange soda is worse than coke on your teeth.
I have cut my soda consumption down to a few here and there.
I can see the new campaign slogans already…!
“Have a colic and a smile!”
“Dyspepsia, the choice of new generation!”
@cashmerewhore: Diet cola doesn’t have HFCS but it still causes the kidney problems according to the article.
@LUCYINTHESKY: You’re in the clear with Mountain Dew, but Dr. Pepper does contain phosphoric acid, so as far as these types of studies are concerned, it’s in the same category as Coke/Pepsi.
Well, crap. I down a two-liter of RC on a daily basis.
Of course, any carbonated drink will eventually cause irreversible damage to your skeleton, cola or not. Not to mention that some drinks more or less have potentially cancer-causing chemicals as part of their ingredients. You people do realize that our processed food lives are slowly killing each and every one of us, right? It’s just, and no pun intended, not natural. It’s a big part of the major disease issues we’re facing more and more. A great many illnesses can be traced back to products we all use literally every day.
The really sad part is that it’s beyond the majority of us to truly do anything about it because most of us lack the means to break out of the grasp of processed goods. We get to not only slowly kill ourselves, but also be aware of it, and know we can’t stop it from happening. Joy oh joy.
@dwayne_dibbly: The point isn’t that you can cheat death by being healthy, the point is there are correlations between many types of behavior (eating garbage food, for example) and the onset of diseases and premature death.
If you eat right, exercise, and generally follow good habits, you’re more likely to live longer and have a healthier life than others who do not.
From Pepsi’s web site regarding Phosphoric Acid:
Phosphoric acid is added to some soft drinks to act as an acidulant. Acidulants add a pleasant tartness to soft drinks and act as a preservative. The use of phosphoric acid results in the beverage having some dietary phosphorus. Phosphorus, like calcium, is an essential mineral for bone health. It is widely distributed in the food supply, including fish, milk, meat, eggs and cereal grains. A small amount of the clear, colorless liquid known as phosphoric acid is added to carbonated soft drinks to provide tartness, essential to a well-rounded flavor. Carbonated soft drinks, however, are not a significant source of phosphorus in the diet, generally contributing only 2% to 4% of the daily dietary phosphorus intake. For example, one cup of milk contains 250 mg of phosphorus while an equivalent amount of cola contains no more than 48 to 56 mg. The U.S. Recommended Dietary Allowance of phosphorus for adequate nutrition is 800 mg per day.
This is why I drink GrandPop. Best enjoyed while rocking on the front porch and yelling at the neighborhood whipersnappers.
*yes, I completely made that up
Last year, I stopped drinking soda. Two weeks ago, I broke down and bought a soda because I had a bad craving for one. I managed take 3-4 sips before I had to throw it away. I could actually feel the texture of the awful high fructose corn syrup on my tongue and it grossed me out. I can’t believe I drank that junk for decades.
The hardest part is giving it up. But after a week or two, you won’t miss it at all.
I’ve had kidney stones and they’re no fun. From what I’ve read one of the primary causes is caffeine. Which means not only colas, but many other carbonated drinks as well. Look at the cans and you’ll be surprised at how many non-cola beverages have caffeine. Coffee and chocolate are also problematic.
Ever since I was hospitalized with kidney stones a few years ago, I’ve limited myself to one caffeinated beverage a day, usually coffee. My favorite substitutes have been diet Sprite, 7-up and ginger ale. It’s been reasonably successful, since I haven’t had to goto the hospital again, but I still have some pain whenever I don’t drink enough water. The only problem is my dentist is now telling me I’m drinking too many diet drinks. I can’t win.
JONES SODA ftw!
@hardcle: It’s at this point where I’ll take the kidney stones if it means living a life enriched with coffee, chocolate and soda.
Or chocolate covered espresso beans….mmmmm
Fuck it. I’ve got a homemade pizza in the oven and a diet coke to my lips. I’ll take my chances.
@matt: You know, its not really hard to eat healthy food and enjoy it.
It is like people get some sort of perverse pleasure out of ingesting junk food.
I’m ashamed to say it, but I love my Coca-Cola. I drink about 4 cans a day. It’s just soooo delicious.
@aaron8301: it seems like you went from bad to worse. Monster is worse for ya.
i’ll drink to that. drink diet coke, that is.
@HooFoot: You know, I wish I could agree with the “you won’t miss it at all” part. I went from about 2 liters/day to nothing – nothing! in a month. Lots of water, juices, & soy milk. Everyone said I’d feel more alert within 2 weeks of kicking the stuff – it never happened, and I missed Coke terrrrribly. I now have come to a good balance. I don’t keep it in my house, but every time I fill up my tank, I pop into the gas station’s store and grab a small one. Seems to work okay.
Let he who hath some cola pass the first stone.
these are preliminary results, so hold your pants.
@dandd: why? what standard deviation do you get at 1000 and what std. dev. do you want and what will n equal then?
@dvsman: there is no, i repeat, zero evidence that HFCS is any worse that straight cane sugar health-wise.
@clankboomsteam: might be common knowledge, but its unproven common knowledge.
Guess I’m screwed then. Then again, for every bottle of Coke I put down in a day, I have an equal amount of milk or water, so maybe it’s flushing out of my system.
@DMDDALLAS Um. Yes it is extremely hard to eat healthy food and enjoy it. Why do you think North Americans are so fat, because brocoli is so delicious?
@HooFoot:
I agree. I stopped drinking soda cold turkey a couple of years ago, when I realized how much money I was wasting on sodas when I would be perfectly happy with water. (I’m one of the few people I know who naturally drinks the recommended eight glasses a day of water, and this is even when I don’t exercise that day…)
But, when I try Coke, Pepsi, etc now because I am tempted by free soda at an event, I am struck anew by how nasty they taste. It really is just colored water and sugar (HFCS). And then I go back to my trusty water.
I guess I can always hope that the Knob Creek I mix with the coke will some how sterilize the horrible effects of the phosphoric acid and the white man’s poison (HFCS).
All black colas contain phosphoric acid. Neither Seven Up or Sprite contain phosphoric acid but some citrus-type sodas do.
Before this study, phosphoric acid has been known for years to remove calcium from your bones to deal with the unnatural phosphorus you are consuming. It also neutralizes the hydrochloric acid in our stomachs needed to digest food and absorb nutrients, especially calcium.