Cola Doesn’t Satisfy Women’s Thirst for Healthy Bones
Drinking cola regularly may lead to brittle bones in women and increase their risk of osteoporosis, according to a study in the latest American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. The study showed that all women who are frequent cola drinkers—no matter what their age is or what their calcium intake is—have a significantly higher risk of having low bone mineral density than women who do not drink cola. Osteoporosis is a condition in which there is a thinning of the bones, causing them to fracture more easily. While it can affect men and younger people, it is most commonly associated with older women.
The researchers gave 2500 people dietary questionnaires and measured their bone mineral density at the spine and three different hip locations. Women who drank four or more colas each week had lower bone mineral density in all their hip locations (not the spine). Male bone mineral density was the same among regular and non-regular cola drinkers…The researchers are not sure what it is in cola that is undermining the health of women’s bones, but suspect that phosphoric acid, an ingredient found in all colas, may be the culprit.
—ChinaView.cn, 10/8/06

Is Web-Based Nutritional Information Fact-Based?
Tens of millions of consumers seek nutrition advice online, regularly searching for information about dietary supplements, food allergies and how to lose weight. But a new evaluation of the 20 most popular diet and nutrition Internet sites by Consumer Reports “WebWatch” shows that the information they dish out can be slim on facts and sometimes bloated with commercial interests.
“More than half the top 20 sites were not rated well by our panel,” says Beau Brendler, director of Consumer Reports WebWatch…To evaluate the sites, Consumer Reports WebWatch, sponsored by the Pew Charitable Trusts and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, teamed with the nonprofit Health Improvement Institute…Nineteen experts, including doctors, nurses and medical librarians, were then tapped to rate the sites after being screened themselves by a three-person expert panel…Ten criteria were used to evaluate each site, including accuracy, disclosure of advertising and other commercial sponsorship, ease of use, privacy policies, authorship, references and how errors are corrected.
The six worst rated diet and nutrition sites frequently blurred lines between editorial content and ads, the report found, and often didn’t disclose author credentials or potential conflicts of interest…So where should you go for solid, weight loss information? The report found three sites well worth the visit: Aetna’s InteliHealth.com, MedicineNet.com and MayoClinic.com each snagged an “excellent” rating…Two of the 20 sites evaluated—the federal government’s National Institutes of Health site