Soda May Soften Bones

If you drink too much soda, watch out. A new study shows it might be thinning your bones. Researchers say the problem is the phosphate in sodas. WBBM-TV Medical Reporter Dr. Michael Breen reports.

Dr. Michael Breen Has The Report

Why does soda thin your bones? Well, in the old days they called a soda a phosphate, that's what gives soda its fizz. But there's a problem with phosphate: it lowers the calcium in your blood. With an elevated phosphate state, it's so high it bumps out the calcium and more calcium is spilled into the urine, and not into the bones.

Too little calcium leads to the brittle bones of osteoporosis.

When you compare the bones of a normal spine and those of a woman with osteoporosis you see the difference. "The bones of osteoporosis look like Swiss cheese to me," says Diane Quantock, R.N. at Loyola University Medical Center.

Bone development is most important for children and teenagers, that's why some experts are now recommending they have no more than two cans of soda a day.

"If that's impossible," said Quantock, "Please increase your milk, ice cream, cheese."