Most soft drinks contain caffeine, which tends to increase the flow of urine. They're not getting calcium from milk, and they're losing calcium in urine. Kids used to drink more milk than soda, now they're drinking twice as much soda as milk. Soda pop also contains phosphoric acid, a flavoring component. It's mildly addictive, it pumps up kids, and it can alter your sleeping pattern.
Many heavy drinkers get headaches when they try to quit.
The jury's still out on aspartame, the generic name for NutraSweet. Stephanie Brownie drinks a case and a half of Diet Pepsi a week, and like most of us, she's heard the rumors. My grandmother swears it's going to give you brain tumors. No so, according to the evidence. And in a sense, when we don't know something, we're gambling long term.