# Side effects from drinking excessive amounts of soda? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 5, 2004, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/side-effects-from-drinking-excessive-amounts-of-soda/278210 "2004-12-05T14:02:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2004, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/side-effects-from-drinking-excessive-amounts-of-soda/278210/1 "2004-12-05T14:02:05Z")
Yesterday, I went to Wal-Mart and bought 8 2-liters of the Caffeine free diet cola. 50 cents a 2 liter. Yay. I drank more than 3 yesterday. If I keep this up, what is my life looking towards? There’s no sugar, so I don’t know if I have to worry about tooth decay, and there’s no caffeine, so I’m not killing my heart or anything, right? ---
**Author:** ![aahala](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e4f/32.png) [@aahala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aahala)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2004, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/side-effects-from-drinking-excessive-amounts-of-soda/278210/2 "2004-12-05T14:26:26Z")
You stated it was sugar free but you didn’t say it was calorie free or not. If the latter, you’ll be seeing “side effects” pretty quickly. ---
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2004, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/side-effects-from-drinking-excessive-amounts-of-soda/278210/3 "2004-12-05T14:35:31Z")
Aha. No calories, either. And it’s sodium free, for whoever was going to ask 😛 ---
**Author:** ![SavageNarce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@SavageNarce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SavageNarce)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2004, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/side-effects-from-drinking-excessive-amounts-of-soda/278210/4 "2004-12-05T16:02:33Z")
Side effects? Well, GAS springs to mind. 😃 Also, carbonated pop is acidic. Excessive amounts might give you stomach problems / heartburn. ---
**Author:** ![DWToml815](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DWToml815](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DWToml815)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2004, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/side-effects-from-drinking-excessive-amounts-of-soda/278210/5 "2004-12-05T16:16:27Z")
You’ll eventually have to pee…ALOT!!! ---
**Author:** ![Jurph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/50afbb/32.png) [@Jurph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jurph)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2004, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/side-effects-from-drinking-excessive-amounts-of-soda/278210/6 "2004-12-05T17:53:56Z")
[Phosphoric acid](http://www.chemicalland21.com/arokorhi/industrialchem/inorganic/PHOSPHORIC%20ACID.htm), one of the ingredients in almost all sodas, causes the body to excrete calcium. It’s probably leaching the calcium from your bones and teeth. Phosphorus on its own is pretty bad for you, too. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2004, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/side-effects-from-drinking-excessive-amounts-of-soda/278210/7 "2004-12-05T18:13:00Z")
The RDA for phosphorus is 800 mg per day. How much are you getting from your soda? ---
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2004, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/side-effects-from-drinking-excessive-amounts-of-soda/278210/8 "2004-12-05T19:35:42Z")
Hey! I know what phosphoric acid is! _hurt feelings_😉😛 There’s no nutritional data on phosphorus on the bottle. If you can believe it, it says that it’s not a significant source of other nutrients. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2004, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/side-effects-from-drinking-excessive-amounts-of-soda/278210/9 "2004-12-05T19:42:49Z")
> [@chaoticdonkey](#): > > Hey! I know what phosphoric acid is! _hurt feelings_😉😛 Yeah, but do you know the difference between d and L phosphoric acid? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2004, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/side-effects-from-drinking-excessive-amounts-of-soda/278210/10 "2004-12-05T19:47:12Z")
Get Wal Marts everything-free carbonated water (flavored) tastes just like soda but NO sugar, caffeine, sodium, hardly any calories, etc. Pretty harmless from what I can tell. ---
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2004, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/side-effects-from-drinking-excessive-amounts-of-soda/278210/11 "2004-12-05T19:53:30Z")
> [@Squink](#): > > Yeah, but do you know the difference between d and L phosphoric acid? 😉 I was much better at inorganic chemistry. _whoosh insurance_It doesn’t look to me like there even _is_ a chirality center in H[sub]3[/sub]PO[sub]4[/sub]. Given, it’s been since 11th grade since I have even looked at that, I can’t tell if you’re mocking my [organic skills](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=289767) or suggesting that there are R and S forms. I’ll just assume you’re yanking my chain.