Excessive soft drink consumption can cause hypokalemia due to a fructose-induced osmotic diarrhea.
Ingestion of massive amounts of cola can lead to severe hypokalemia through several pathophysiologic mechanisms. These perturbations include osmotic diarrhea, osmotic diuresis, and hyperinsulinemia secondary to hyperglycemia with resultant intracellular to cellular shifts in potassium.
The fructose load from the cola drinks acts as an osmotic agent in the gastrointestinal tract, leading to osmotic diarrhea, subsequently causing potassium and other electrolyte losses.
Researchers warn sodas with or without caffeine have the potential to cause a drastic drop in your serum potassium levels.
Lower potassium choices: Tea, herbal tea, squash or cordial, water, fizzy drinks. Spirits are lower in potassium than other alcoholic drinks.
Aspartame addition does not contribute to increase neither potassium nor sodium concentration since this peptide is added as a non-salt-type.
Diet Soda is Just as Bad as Regular Soda
Regular soda contains a lot of sugar whereas diet coke contains artificial sweeteners like aspartame. Despite being low or zero calories, diet coke offers no nutritional value whatsoever.
Phosphoric Acid and Potassium Benzoate is used as preservatives to extend the product's shelf life, but only phosphoric acid is used in both original and Coke Zero.
Kidney function declined over two decades in women who drank several diet sodas a day, according to researchers from the prestigious Nurses' Health Study. In fact, compared with women who did not drink diet soda, soda-drinking women had a 30% greater reduction in kidney function in 20 years.
Vomiting, diarrhea or both also can result in excessive potassium loss from the digestive tract. Occasionally, low potassium is caused by not getting enough potassium in your diet. In most cases, low potassium is found by a blood test that is done because of an illness, or because you are taking diuretics.
The kidneys remove excess potassium through the urinary system to keep a proper balance of the mineral in the body. Common causes of low blood potassium include: Medicines, such as diuretics (water pills), certain antibiotics (amphotericin B, chloroquine at toxic levels)
These include weight gain, disruptions to gut health, cardiovascular problems and an increased craving for sweets. More recently, studies have linked the diet soda habit to an increased risk of stroke. News stories have tended to focus on the health problems that were identified in the research.
Drinking a reasonable amount of diet soda a day, such as a can or two, isn't likely to hurt you. The artificial sweeteners and other chemicals currently used in diet soda are safe for most people, and there's no credible evidence that these ingredients cause cancer.
Although switching from regular soda to diet soda may save you calories, it's not yet clear if it's effective for preventing obesity and related health problems in the long term. Healthier low-calorie choices abound, including water, skim milk, and unsweetened tea or coffee.
While diet soda may boast zero calories and zero sugar, it doesn't hydrate as well as water, and it increases the risk for a number of health issues including insomnia, tooth enamel erosion, and dizziness.
The main difference between coke and coke zero is the sugar content. When drinking coke zero as opposed to regular coke, you are consuming significantly less sugar which is a positive for weight loss and reduces the risk of weight-related diseases.
If hyperkalemia comes on suddenly and you have very high levels of potassium, you may feel heart palpitations, shortness of breath, chest pain, nausea, or vomiting. Sudden or severe hyperkalemia is a life-threatening condition. It requires immediate medical care.
Additionally, the majority of colas do not contain major minerals or vitamins. The Coca-Cola label states “Not a significant source of saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol, dietary fiber, vitamin D, calcium, iron, and potassium.”
Avoid black-eyed peas, dried beans, cooked greens, spinach, yams, and sweet potato pie. All are high in potassium.
Excessive water consumption may lead to depletion of potassium, which is an essential nutrient. This may cause symptoms like leg pain, irritation, chest pain, et al.