Soda Addiction Leaves 25-Year-Old Man Without Any Teeth

[c.d.]

http://now.msn.com/william-kennewell-25-has-dentures-after-soda-addiction

c.d.

[RivkahChaya]

That is a lot of soda. That's about six & 1/2 2-liter bottles every day. I couldn't drink that much of anything. My husband drank a couple of gallons of water a day when he was in Iraq, and it was 110'F, and he was in head-to-toe uniform, sometimes with body armor.

I suppose if you are drinking that much of anything, you have to sip all day long, and not have a glass, then brush your teeth.

On the other hand, are we certain this guy did not have some kind of disease that effected both his sense of thirst, or "fullness," as well as his teeth?

I can't think of a genetic or other disease process off-hand that affects both, but I can think of several genetic conditions that cause a person not to develop permanent teeth. They may keep some of their baby teeth for a long time, until age 18 or 19, but eventually lose them. There are also conditions that cause a person's enamel not to form correctly.

I still can help wondering if this guy never brushed his teeth or visited the dentist. Maybe there should be fluoride in soft drinks.

I don't know how much a warning will help, but I know I get the vapors when I see people pouring soft drinks, particularly caffeinated ones, into bottles, than giving them to babies and toddlers. I'm not making that up. I see it all the time. I wouldn't mind seeing "not intended for children under two," or something, on soda labels.

[Barnaby]

Especially because liver metabolism or certain drugs in babies isn't fully functional and, as such, they are more sensitive to drugs like caffeine.

[RivkahChaya]

Especially because liver metabolism or certain drugs in babies isn't fully functional and, as such, they are more sensitive to drugs like caffeine.

You also don't want to give a baby diet soda either, though. Even though babies born in US hospitals have a PKU screening, false negatives are possible, and it would be pretty easy to overload a little baby with phenylalanine. Saccharine, as is often pointed out caused cancer in lab rates only when they received megadoses of it, but again, eight ounces of fountain soda (which in the US has saccharine rather than phenylalanine/Nutrasweet), is a megadose for a baby.

I wouldn't be all rolly-eyed about it if soda had any food value whatsoever, but it doesn't, and it's an acquired taste. We gave out son some of his second birthday for the very first time, thinking it would be a treat, and he didn't like it. Now he's six & a half, and he likes to have sips from our cups when we have it, but the couple of times we've given him caffeine-free Coke, of his own, he hasn't finished a six ounce serving.

If people think that giving a baby anything they have on a hot day, even soda with caffeine, to hydrate it, they're probably wrong, because caffeine is a diuretic, and adults who drink it regularly don't see much of that effect, but I imagine it could actually contribute to dehydrating a baby. If you have a baby, you just have to plan head. That's part of it. You either have formula, or water, or know the surce of water, or have the breastfeeding mother with you, and make sure she has water (I had to drink a lot of water when I was nursing-- a lot).