10-grade girls who drink soda pop have three times the risk of bone fractures compared with those who don't drink carbonated beverages, according to a new Harvard study. Wyshak did two previous studies of soda pop and bone fractures, one on postmenopausal women, the other on teenagers, and reached the same conclusion. In a 1994 study, she tested both boys and girls, and found that the same association does not hold true for boys. I suspect it's related to hormones and the difference in calcium and phosphorus metabolism. Colas contain phosphoric acid, which interferes with calcium metabolism and the building of bone mass, a process that apparently affects girls more than boys.
Important questions are yet to be answered.