To Your Health
November, 2019 (Vol. 13, Issue 11) |
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Soda: Bad for Older Women's Bones
By Editorial Staff
And it's especially for postmenopausal women, who are already at a higher risk for bone issues compared to younger women who have yet to experience menopause.
In fact, postmenopausal women who drink several sodas on a daily basis (classified as "heavy soda drinkers," but not as unlikely as you might think; that's as few as two 12-ounce cans of soda per day) are significantly more likely to suffer a hip fracture compared to postmenopausal women who don't drink any soda.
Researchers examined three specific variables in more than 70,000 women (average age: 69 years): soda consumption, bone health and hip fractures. During 12 years of follow-up, soda drinkers (based on the above amounts / frequency) were 26 percent more likely to suffer a hip fracture. (Interestingly, drinking caffeine-free soda increased the risk even further, to 32 percent.) Women who drank fewer than fourteen 12-ounce servings of soda per week (classified as "light" or "regular" soda drinkers) did not appear to have an increased fracture risk.
These findings appeared in the research journal Menopause. Researchers analyzed data from the Women's Health Initiative, a national health study initiated in 1993 and "focused on strategies for preventing heart disease, breast and colorectal cancer, and osteoporotic fractures in postmenopausal women." Click here to learn more.
