By TSC Staff

The average American guzzles 56 gallons of cola drinks every year or 1.6 cans per day.  In fact, Americans drink more water in carbonated soda than they drink from the plain old tap!

Now comes new research warnng that consuming a lot of cola every day can cause muscle weakness, an irregular heartbeat and even paralysis, according to The Daily Telegraph of London.

Chronic consumption of cola can trigger a condition called hypokalemia, a condition characterized by low concentrations of potassium in the blood. 

Researchers said that family doctors should look out for muscle problems in people who drink large amounts of cola, after finding that patients who drank between 0.5 to and 5 gallons a day developed the condition.

Writing in the International Journal of Clinical Practice, Greek researchers explore a variety of cases, including a pregnant women drinks between 0.8 and 1.8 gallons of cola per day.

"We are consuming more soft drinks than ever before and a number of health issues have already been identified including tooth problems, bone demineralisation and the development of metabolic syndrome and diabetes" said Dr Moses Elisaf, who led the review of research.

"Evidence is increasing to suggest that excessive cola consumption can also lead to [hypokalemia]."

Researchers bellieve that three of the most common ingredients in cola -- glucose, fructose and caffeine -- can contribute to hypokalemia.

"The individual role of each of these ingredients in the pathophysiology of cola-induced hypokalemia has not been determined and may vary in different patients," one of the researchers says.  "However, in most of the cases we looked at for our review, caffeine intoxication was thought to play the most important role. This has been borne out by case studies that focus on other products that contain high levels of caffeine but no glucose or fructose."

All patients made a full and speedy recovery after they stopped drinking cola and took supplements of potassium.

In Britain, the beverage industry trade group called these examples in this study "all very extreme cases of high cola consumption, which are totally unrepresentative of the cola consumption of the vast majority of people .... Moderate consumption of cola drinks is completely safe and people can continue to enjoy such drinks as part of a balanced diet and active lifestyle.”