Risks to Your Health: Caffeinated Soft Drink Consumption

Evaluating Risk Factors: Caffeinated Soft Drink Consumption

Evaluating your likely current (and near future) state of health means taking into account the risk factors — such as drinking caffeinated soft drinks — that affect you. Our medical diagnosis tool, The Analyst™, identifies major risk factors by asking the right questions.

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If you indicate soft drink consumption, moderate soft drink consumption or high soft drink consumption, The Analyst™ will ask further questions including this one:

Do you consume soft drinks containing caffeine? Most soft drinks do contain caffeine. If unsure, answer this question assuming that they contain it.

Possible responses:

→ Never / rarely / don't know
→ About one drink a week or less
→ 2-6 drinks each week
→ 1-4 drinks each day
→ More than 4 drinks each day

The Diagnostic Process

Based on your response to this question, which may indicate no/low caffeinated soda consumption, caffeinated soft drink consumption or high caffeinated soda consumption, The Analyst™ will use differential diagnosis to consider possibilities such as:

Caffeine Intoxication

Consequences of Poor Diet

Dehydration

Caffeine is a mild diuretic.

Magnesium Requirement

Osteoporosis - Osteopenia

Regular consumption of caffeinated carbonated beverages has been associated with increased risk of bone fracture both earlier and later in life, yet the contributions of the individual components of these beverages to calcium loss is unclear.

The per capita consumption of carbonated beverages has risen dramatically, making them the preferred beverage of women 20-40 years old, many of who already have an inadequate daily intake of calcium.

The effect of caffeinated and noncaffeinated beverages on urinary calcium excretion was measured in a group of 30 women with an average age of 31 years. The subjects habitually drank from two to seven 12-ounce cans of carbonated beverages daily; 27 drank predominantly colas.

Though the caffeine in the drinks was primarily responsible for excess calcium excretion, previous studies of the effect of caffeine have shown a compensatory drop in calcium excretion over the 24-hour period following ingestion. The fact that the small calcium loss from carbonated beverages was offset by reduced excretion later in the day, and the habituation of the subjects to frequent consumption, lead the authors to conclude that the main cause of calcium loss from carbonated beverages was their lack of nutrients needed for bone health. [Heaney, Rafferty; Am. J of Clin. Nutr., August 2001]

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