Cracking open that can of soda each day may be raising your risk of certain cancers, according to new research.
What the Study Found
In the study, published Aug. 17 in the journal Gastro Hep Advances, researchers at the Mass General Brigham Cancer Institute found that consuming at least one sugar-sweetened beverage per day was associated with more than twice the risk of developing gastric cancer compared with rarely consuming such drinks. The findings were based on decades of data from more than 100,000 people.
Across the United States, 63% of adults ages 18 and older reported drinking sugar-sweetened beverages one or more times daily, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In the study, sugar-sweetened beverages included regular soda, energy drinks and juice with added sugars.
“This is the first study to demonstrate an association between sugar-sweetened beverage intake and gastric cancer in a U.S. population,” senior author Dr. Andrew T. Chan, a gastroenterologist and epidemiologist with the Mass General Brigham Cancer Institute, said in a news release. “Gastric cancer is the fifth leading cause of cancer death worldwide, but we’ve known very little about how diet might contribute to this cancer.”
Previous studies have also found an association between these types of beverages and other types of cancer, including colorectal, breast and liver cancers, the authors added.
What the Findings Mean
Gastric cancer, also known as stomach cancer, can happen in any part of the stomach and is harder to cure when the disease is advanced, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Artificially sweetened beverages, which were defined as low-calorie carbonated beverages in this study, were not associated with an increased risk of gastric cancer.
But that doesn’t mean diet sodas come with no risk. For example, aspartame, one of the most common artificial sweeteners, was previously labeled a possible carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has identified aspartame as safe for consumption within acceptable daily limits.
What Researchers Still Don’t Know
The authors said the study had limitations, including limited information about some participants’ health and family histories. The group was also predominantly White and ages 30 to 75, meaning researchers were “unable to examine associations within racial-ethnic subgroups or younger adults.”
Weight gain, insulin resistance, inflammation and other proposed mechanisms may help explain how sugar-sweetened beverages could affect cancer risk, the authors said. But future research is needed to confirm the biological reasoning behind the association.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY. Reporting by Sara Moniuszko, USA TODAY. USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect.
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