Phosphorous Deficiency and Coke

Hi all,

My daughter's phosphorous came low this time and we are advised that she can drink lots of coke and eat nuts. To my surprise, coke is infact very high in phosphorous and recommended for thal majors who are low or deficient in phosphorous. The trick is the high sugar content in the coke but we were told to ignore it.

Although she does not like nuts but, hey!! once she drinks two cans per day she goes nuts anyways.

 

     Keeping your sanity up while she gets her phorphorus up with the coke!

thanks for letting us know about the phorphorus,  I don't think we have ever checked for that,

Sharmin

Candian family & Sharmin,

Please we need to check this very soon because what i know is that phosphoric acid that is found in coke or pespsi or even any drink causes demineralization of bones. That is they not only inhibit the absorption of calcium but it also take away the calcium that are already in the bones , this is what we mean by deminerlization.

Actually, when i was at my university in one of the chemistry classes we soaked a tooth in coke and it just disappeared in a week so i really don't think this is right and it is healthy for thal or even non thal. Usually, i prevent my children from drinking any thing that have phosphoric acid (which is not found in other soft drinks)

So please we need to check this, so lets search and come back again to see what we found

manal

From a quick search,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phosphoric_acid

Phosphoric acid, used in many soft drinks (primarily cola), has been linked to lower bone density in epidemiological studies. For example, a study[2] using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry rather than a questionnaire about breakage, provides reasonable evidence to support the theory that drinking cola results in lower bone density.

The study does not examine the effect of phosphoric acid, which binds with magnesium and calcium in the digestive tract to form salts that are not absorbed

Cola consumption has also been linked to chronic kidney disease and kidney stones through medical research.[6] This study differentiated between the effects of cola (generally contains phosphoric acid), non-cola carbonated beverages (substitute citric acid) and coffee (control for caffeine), and found that drinking 2 or more colas per day more than doubled the incidence of kidney disease

Another article,

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2003/07/09/soda-dangers-part-two.aspx

Let’s take a look at some of the major components of a can of soda:

Phosphoric Acid: May interfere with the body's ability to use calcium, which can lead to osteoporosis or softening of the teeth and bones. Phosphoric acid also neutralizes the hydrochloric acid in your stomach, which can interfere with digestion, making it difficult to utilize nutrients.

Sugar: Soft drink manufacturers are the largest single user of refined sugar in the United States. It is a proven fact that sugar increases insulin levels, which can lead to high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease, diabetes, weight gain, premature aging and many more negative side effects. Most sodas include over 100 percent of the RDA of sugar.

Aspartame: This chemical is used as a sugar substitute in diet soda. There are over 92 different health side effects associated with aspartame consumption including brain tumors, birth defects, diabetes, emotional disorders and epilispsy/seizures. Further, when aspartame is stored for long periods of time or kept in warm areas it changes to methanol, an alcohol that converts to formaldehyde and formic acid, which are known carcinogens.

Caffeine: Caffeinated drinks cause jitters, insomnia, high blood pressure, irregular heartbeat, elevated blood cholesterol levels, vitamin and mineral depletion, breast lumps, birth defects, and perhaps some forms of cancer.

Tap Water: I recommend that everyone avoid drinking tap water because it can carry any number of chemicals including chlorine, trihalomethanes, lead, cadmium, and various organic pollutants. Tap water is the main ingredient in bottled soft drinks.

Soda is one of the main reasons, nutritionally speaking, why many people suffer health problems. Aside from the negative effects of the soda itself, drinking a lot of soda is likely to leave you with little appetite for vegetables, protein and other food that your body needs.

If you are still drinking soda, stopping the habit is an easy way to improve your health. Pure water is a much better choice. If you must drink a carbonated beverage, try sparkling mineral water.

Please if you need more research on this let me know

manal

Phosphoric acid is not phosphorus. It is an acid and can leach calcium from bones.

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/picrender.fcgi?artid=1718517&blobtype=pdf

Coke gets in your bones?
Why would drinking Coca Cola and other fizzy drinks make children
more prone to bone fractures? That seems a difficult question to
answer but a study in Boston, Massachusetts (Grace Wyshak. Archives
of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine 2000;154:610–13), has provided
empirical evidence linking the intake of these drinks with a history of
fractures in teenage girls.
A total of 460 teenage schoolgirls took part in a retrospective questionnaire
survey in which they were asked, among other things, about
their physical activities, whether or not they drank carbonated
beverages, and whether they had ever had a bone fracture. They were
not asked about the quantities of the various drinks they consumed.
About 80% replied that they habitually drank carbonated drinks,
mostly colas. Twenty per cent reported having had a fracture, some in
early childhood.
In the whole study group, drinking carbonated beverages increased
the odds of having had a bone fracture threefold. In physically active
girls, but not inactive girls, drinking colas increased the odds of fracture
fivefold compared with drinking non-carbonated drinks or non-cola
carbonated drinks. Drinking both cola and non-cola carbonated drinks
increased the odds sevenfold compared with drinking only noncarbonated
drinks.
It all seems rather strange. No explanations are offered other than
observations that cola drinks have a high content of phosphoric acid
and American teenagers have been drinking about 40% less milk than
they used to. The cross sectional design of the study can’t prove cause
and effect and there are no data about bone mineral density. It’s an
important subject though, and developments will no doubt be awaited
with interest.

There is much controversy about this subject and the subject of carbonated drinks in general but,

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15549642?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DiscoveryPanel.Pubmed_Discovery_RA&linkpos=4&log$=relatedarticles&logdbfrom=pubmed

Carbonated beverages have been reported to increase fracture risk in children but the mechanism is unclear. The aim of this population-based case-control study was to investigate the association between soft drink and milk consumption, physical activity, bone mass, and upper limb fractures in children aged 9-16 years. A total of 206 fracture cases and 206 randomly selected individually matched controls were studied. There were 47 hand fractures; 128 wrist and forearm fractures, and 31 upper arm fractures. An interviewer-administered questionnaire was utilized to retrospectively assess last-year physical activity (including television, computer, and video watching) and to recall the average weekly consumption of milk, colas, and total carbonated drinks. Bone mass at the spine, hip, and total body was assessed by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) and metacarpal morphometry. For total fractures, none of the above drink types was significantly different between cases and controls. For wrist and forearm fractures, there was a positive association between cola drink consumption and fracture risk (OR 1.39/unit, 95% CI: 1.01, 1.91). Cola consumption was significantly correlated with television, computer, and video watching (r = 0.20, P = 0.001) but not bone mineral density or milk drinks. After adjustment for television, computer, and video watching and bone mineral density, the association between cola drinks and fracture risk became nonsignificant (OR 1.31/unit, 95% CI: 0.94, 1.83). No association with other fracture sites was observed. In conclusion, cola, but not total carbonated beverage consumption, is associated with increased wrist and forearm fracture risk in children. However, this association is not independent of other factors and appears to be mediated by television watching and bone mineral density but not by decreased milk intake.

PMID: 15549642 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

If you look at this chart of phosphorus containing foods you can find many good sources. You will also see that colas have only trace amounts of phosphorus. Cheese would be a much better choice. What cola does to teeth is horrible. http://www.healthyeatingclub.com/info/books-phds/books/foodfacts/html/data/data5f.html
   



http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/119354675/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0

Tooth enamel softening with a cola type drink and rehardening with hard cheese or stimulated saliva in situ
I. GEDALIA 1 , D. IONAT-BENDAT 1 , S. BEN-MOSHEH 1 L. SHAPIRA 1
  1 Dental Research Unit, Faculty of Dentistry, The Hebrew Universitv-Hadassah Medical School, Jerusalem, Israel
Correspondence to  Professor I. Gedalia, Dental Research Unit, Faculty of Dentistry. The Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School, P.O. Box 1172, Jerusalem, Israel.
Copyright 1991 Blackwell Science Ltd
ABSTRACT
Abstract   References

The in-situ remineralization effect of hard cheese was compared with that of saliva on tooth enamel in man. The intra-oral test of softening enamel surfaces by a cola type drink followed by rehardening by chewing hard cheese and/or parafilm was assessed by microhardness and SEM measurements. Cheese consumption significantly increased the enamel hardness, whereas stimulated saliva did not have this effect. The remineralizing effects are presumably due to uptake of calcium and phosphate salts by the surface enamel. Morphologically, the enamel surfaces did not return to their original state.

http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/116/4/921

The devastation of the dentition in the cola-fed animals is hardly surprising in light of the widely held view that persistent use of cola-type drinks has adverse effects on dental health...Our data show that cola and honey are highly caries promoting and erosive, and their use in nursing bottles should be actively discouraged.

There are so many better ways to get minerals in your diet. Colas do ruin the teeth, so why chance using them?

Thanks for your early replies. Its all coming to me now, the hospital actually did the bone density test last week before recommending the nuts and coke.

Although the usage is not intended for long period of time (2-3 months) but its better to be safe anyways. We can question the hospital for recommendation (which I shall), I know its a norm there and I don't expect an explanatory answer from them.

Maybe we can look into natural source phosphorous from natural supplements.

You may also wish to refer to:

http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/infocenter/minerals/phosphorus/

Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for Phosphorus
Life Stage    Age                        Males (mg/day)    Females (mg/day)
Infants    0-6 months                  100 (AI)             100 (AI)
Infants    7-12 months           275 (AI)             275 (AI)
Children    1-3 years                   460                     460
Children    4-8 years                   500                     500
Children    9-13 years                   1,250             1,250
Adolescents    14-18 years       1,250                     1,250
Adults    19 years and older   700                      700
Pregnancy   18 years and younger   -                    1,250
Pregnancy    19 years and older   -                      700
Breast-feeding 18 years and younger   -            1,250
Breast-feeding 19 years and older   -                      700

Food   Serving                                Phosphorus (mg)
Milk, skim    8 ounces                          247
Yogurt, plain nonfat   8 ounces          385
Cheese, mozzarella; part skim   1 ounce    131
Egg   1 large, cooked                          104
Beef   3 ounces, cooked*                  173
Chicken   3 ounces, cooked*          155
Turkey   3 ounces, cooked*          173
Fish, halibut   3 ounces, cooked*     242
Fish, salmon   3 ounces, cooked*     252
Bread, whole wheat   1 slice           57
Bread, enriched white   1 slice           25
Carbonated cola drink   12 ounces           40
Almonds#   1 ounce (23 nuts)         134
Peanuts#   1 ounce                         107
Lentils#   1/2 cup, cooked                 178

Sharmin

hi

If I am not wrong banana's are rich in phosphorus. I had a lot of cramps when i was pregnant and they said phosphorus defficient and advised me for a multi vitamin and banana.

Pls chk it out.

Hi Puja

What i know is that phosphrous is found mainly in fish and nuts and the lack of calcium is the cause of cramps. I will search on this and let you know, until then take care

manal

There are many kinds and causes (some are known and others are not ) for leg cramps. And if you want to discuss it in details, i think we should make a seperate post on this topic, but please let me know.

But generally, from one of these causes is a decrease in calcium , magnesium and potassium. That is why Puja that you were advised to eat bananas as they are so rich in potassium.

http://www.medicinenet.com/muscle_cramps/page2.htm

Low blood calcium, magnesium: Low blood levels of either calcium or magnesium directly increase the excitability of both the nerve endings and the muscles they stimulate. This may be a predisposing factor for the spontaneous "true" cramps experienced by many older adults, as well as for those that are commonly noted during pregnancy. Low levels of calcium and magnesium are common in a normal pregnancy unless these minerals are supplemented to the diet. Cramps are seen in any circumstance that decreases the availability of calcium or magnesium in body fluids, such as from diuretics, hyperventilation (overbreathing), excessive vomiting, inadequate calcium and/or magnesium in the diet, inadequate calcium absorption due to vitamin D deficiency, poor function of the parathyroid gland (a tiny gland in the neck that regulates calcium balance), and other conditions.

Low potassium: Low potassium levels occasionally cause muscle cramps, although it is more common for low potassium to be associated with muscle weakness.

As for the food rich in phosphrous please check the link that Andy had posted, it is really very good

http://www.healthyeatingclub.com/info/books-phds/books/foodfacts/html/data/data5f.html

manal
   

Hi all,

We did talk to the doctor and they have no reservations against their recommendation. I searched on internet and found that coke infact is high in phosphorous, the phosphoric acid in the coke does change to phosphorous in the body (some chemical reaction). It is recommended (for short period of time, and only as a quick fix) by the hospital for sick children, Toronto, to children who are low in phosphorous, however, it is never recommended for longer period of time (maximum 2-3 months). The doctor is satisfied with her recommendation. Now whether a parent wants to give their child the coke or not is totally upto them. Infact their are some great disadvantages of drinking coke which are mentioned in the post. Decision is to be made if parents wants to outweigh the disadvantages over an advantage. Infact we did talk about the disadvantages of coke with the doctor and she smiled and explained some of it can only happen if the coke is drink in excess over a very long period of time, and most of it is myth anyways.

Please do not misinterpret this post to crank up any addiction or excuse to drink excess coke. 

Thanks canadian Family for the update.

That is really new and interesting 


manal

Thanks for sharing that Canadian Family, we hope that our little princess gets the phosphorus she needs and that you have fun chasing her 

I won't let my husband read the benefits of coke though   

Sharmin

It should be pointed out that the international cola companies do have powerful lobbies and also spread a great deal of misinformation about their products including so-called debunking sites online.

Soft drinks have no nutritional value and are loaded with sugar and chemicals. Why choose to feed your kids junk when so many quality sources of nutrients are available? If yellow teeth stripped of their enamel and cavities are the goal, cola can't be beat. Finding phosphorus rich, nutritious foods is no challenge, and they are much better sources of phosphorus and calcium than colas.

You are what you eat.

That's true Andy, and to add to the discussion, did I mention that we had already decided to find other natural alternatives for phosphorous. However, the post was to bring out the point in public and learn how doctors cope with patient's problems. Well, if they choose to do it that way, it can only be justified as a temporary short easy solution.

I think this is very interesting find and should be taken lightly.