soda pop bad for bones?

My Gyn told me not to drink soda except on special occassions now because it causes calcium to leach out of your bones. I can't take HRT. Anyone heard of this? I think I'll do a google search and see what I come up with regarding this. Just wondered if any of you ever heard anything like this.

Thanks, Dona

Yep...been hearing about it for years.

Best wishes,
Maralyn

A few years ago I broke both feet and my doctor told me the same thing about drinking soda. I was taking Vioxx at the time and he said it also kept my body from absorbing the medicie properly.

This is true. Soda contains phosphoric acid and it tends to leach the calcium right out of the bones.

Thankfully, I read about this before my surgery. I also heard that we are more prone to bone loss in the first year of surgical menopause. I rarely ever have a soda anymore. I do drink water all day long. But, now having a Pepsi is really a treat that I only rarely indulge in. S~Moonchime

I was told years ago about soda leaching calcium from bones, but I was told only the dark-colored sodas.

If you're not taking HRT, as I am not, you might want to talk to your Dr. about Fossamax or Actonel along w/a calcium supplement or getting more calcium thru your diet. These meds are not hormones. We need something (besides just Vit. D) to allow our bones to absorb the calcium. Estrogen used to be the way, but w/o that, the drugs mentioned above can do the trick. I was told that w/o one of those drugs and w/o estrogen, all the calcium in the world won't be absorbed by our bones (we need 1000 to 1200 mgs. of calcium a day). Exercise is also important. I'm only 52 and I already have oesteopenia, the precurser to oesteoporosis, so I'm taking Actonel and trying to get the calcium thru diet b/c calcium tablets make me sick to my stomach, even Tums.

Good luck everyone.

Thank you for starting this thread. I had never heard this about soda. I do know from personal experience that the arthritis in my hips acts up if I drink a soda so I gave them up quite a while ago. Now I'll have to have a talk with DH about his soda drinking.

There's really nothing good about soda or diet soda. Here is a site that gives an overview of the health problems they can cause.

http://www.mercola.com/2003/jul/9/soda_dangers.htm

p.s. with regard to diet sodas containing aspartame -- years ago when I had a neurological problem my Dr. told me to stay away from anything with aspartame in it, so I have. I use only Splenda now.

Definitely stay away from sodas, and really all sweetened drinks (whether they've got sugar in them or artificial sweeteners).

Not only is it true that phosphoric acid is bad for your bones, new studies are finding that empty calorie drinks like sodas fool your body and make you want more and also cause spikes in blood sugar, making your pancreas work harder.

Even fruit juices should be limited to small portions - though at least they provide some nutrition. Watch out for juice "cocktails" that have added sugars, too.

If you want to - start drinking iced teas (herbal, black tea or green tea). Studies are showing that teas are a great source of antioxidants. If you like it unsweetened, all the better, and at least with tea you make at home you can control the amount of sugar in it. It's really quite inexpensive, too!

Post-surgery is a great time to make a new start and break old habits that don't help our health. I started eating a lot more fruit, fresh veggies and whole grains after surgery.

My husband needed to lose weight about 18 months ago and eliminated all sodas from his diet and lost about a pound a week for the first two months. He later added in moderate exercise and our change in diet towards more fresh foods & whole grains and he's dropped 30 pounds total.

Here's a good article about teens and carbonated drinks - liquid candy - how soft drinks are harming americans' health

Take care and congratulations on taking this easy step towards a stronger body.

I had read that if you drink more than 2 sodas a day, you are wasting your calcium supplement... that more than 2 causes you to not absorb calcium. I had never heard the leaching thing before, though. That's alarming.

Thank you all so much for responding. I knew my sisters here could shed some light on this. Thanks for the informative web site information too. I am definitely not going to drink soda, and will start drinking more iced herb tea. I love herb tea hot, but for some reason, just never gave much thought to drinking it cold. It's a great idea though. (I'm LDS so I don't drink regular tea, iced or hot.)

Thanks, too, for the information on fossomax and actonel. Are these medications that my GYN can prescribe for me when I go back for my 5 week post op appt. or is it something I need to schedule an apt. with my GP?

You ladies are awesome! Thanks again.