Kick that Cola Habit!

Found an article on my listserv the other morning that caught my eye. The headline read Excess Cola Can Cause Super-sized Muscle Trouble, and I was intrigued to read on.

The summed up version is this: A study published in the June Issue of the International Journal of Clinical Practice (IJCP) has linked excess (this is key) cola consumption to serious muscle problems, through its role in causing potassium levels to drop resulting in hypokalemia. Symptoms of hypokalemia include decreased muscle strength, cramping, palpitations and nausea and can lead to life threatening heart trouble.

The interesting finding is that this doesn't seem to be a problem with all sodas, but is with colas. Researchers aren't entirely sure but they believe its due to a combination of 3 components found in most cola beverages: glucose, fructose and caffeine. The article in the IJCP goes on to explain metabolically how its thought to occur, which is basically due to excess intake of those components altering the normal potassium regulatory mechanisms in the body. What the paper didn't mention, was whether diet colas had been studied and what type of response resulted. I wondered about this since diet colas lack 2 of the 3 culprit components: glucose and fructose.

The article goes on to suggest that health care practitioners remind their patients of the risk of developing hypokalemia for those who consume excessive amounts of cola. So I suppose its now time to address what the researchers were referring to when they speak of 'excessive intake' The risk of serious muscle & heart problems was found in people who consumed liters of soda/day.. ...specifically 2-9L/day!

A sample case reported in the paper:

A 44-year old ostrich farmer from Australia developed sudden onset of weakness after returning home from an evening of kangaroo shooting. He was unable to get out of his bath, and his respiratory status deteriorated. We was rushed to hospital, intubated and put on a mechanical ventilator. He was found to be profoundly hypokalemic....he was found to have been drinking between 4-10L of cola/day for the past 3 years. He was asked to curtail his cola drinking, his potassium level normalized and he made a full recovery.

While I can appreciate that there may be a risk of developing hypokalemia for people with excess cola consumption, I am not so sure I believe that there are many people consuming in that high excess. The authors of the article point out that in 2007 worldwide annual soft drink consumption was 552 billion liters, or 83 liters per person. The also highlight that there are likely many more people consuming excess cola than we may think, pointing out that large sized sodas sold in vending machines & stores make consuming excess not that difficult (drinking 2 'standard' sized 24 oz bottles per day yields a 1.42 L daily intake....and thats far less than a 64 oz Big Gulp from 7-11!!)

The bottomline here: I suppose it doesn't hurt to encourage health care professionals to be aware of the risk of developing hypokalemia & heart problems...but I think we need to be more concerned about the mere caloric-atrosity from consuming high amounts of cola! I don't know how many people out there are actually consuming enough cola to cause hypokalemia (2-9 L is a lot)! But consuming even just 1 liter a day has a caloric consequence. Consuming 3 cans of Coca-Cola/day, which is just over a 1L, racks up 480 calories and 126g sugar! Yikes! (Multiply that out for an excess intake of 2-9 litres if you want to know!). 1L/day wouldn't be enough to cause hypokalemia, but it certainly is capable of contributing to weight gain and obesity, amd can increase the risk of developing hypertension and diabetes!!