Soft drinks? Men with knee osteoarthritis should just say, “No!”

Five soft drinks per week is not what you’d call an out-of-control habit. Zero per week is best. But still, five isn’t excessive.

And yet, just five soft drinks per week might be enough to aggravate knee osteoarthritis.

In a new study, researchers followed more than 2,100 knee OA patients.

Dietary surveys revealed a clear link between soft drink consumption and greater severity of knee OA in men. For some reason, this link didn’t emerge among women. Just men. And only in men who drank five or more soft drinks per week.

At first, researchers thought obesity might be a factor in the soft drink connection. They wondered if carrying extra weight might make knee OA worse.

In fact, they found just the opposite. Normal-weight and overweight men had the worst knee damage compared with obese men.

So the link may be a puzzling one. Still, men who have knee OA would do best to avoid soft drinks. In fact, I can’t think of anyone who wouldn’t. I’ve yet to see the study showing any benefits of drinking them.

Sources:
“Is soda causing your knee troubles?” Dr. Allan Spreen, Healthier Talk, 12/5/12, healthiertalk.com