Sugary pop hard on women's kidneys

One theory is that high quantities of high-fructose corn syrup might cause damage to enzymes in the kidneys

Women who drink two or more cans of sugary pop a day are nearly twice as likely to show early signs of kidney disease, Loyola University researchers have found.

But there was no such risk for women who drank diet pop.

And for men, drinking large amounts of pop -- either regular or diet -- wasn't linked at all with the elevated protein levels in their urine that are an early sign the kidneys aren't functioning properly.

One theory is that high quantities of high-fructose corn syrup might cause damage to enzymes in the kidneys, said study co-author Dr. Holly Kramer, a professor of medicine at Loyola's Stritch School of Medicine.

If corn syrup contains mercury, as has been found in two other studies, that could also play a role in damaging the kidneys of frequent pop drinkers, Kramer said.

It's not clear, though, why sugary soft drinks would harm women more than men.

"It could be that men have a much larger body mass, so it could be a dose effect," Kramer said. "Or it could be that women are inherently more sensitive to the effect."

The study, published in the journal PLoS ONE, was based on a national sample of 9,300 men and women with no history of diabetes.

Via The Chicago Sun-Times