Sugary soft drinks and juices have never been considered healthy foods.
The drinks have long been considered a source of empty calories, often containing more sugar than four Krispy Kreme donuts, increasing the risk of chronic diseases like type 2. diabetesobesity, heart disease and tooth decay.
Now a study has found that people who consume just one sugary drink per day are more likely to develop a killer stomach cancer.
In the new analysis, Harvard-affiliated researchers analyzed the health records of more than 100,000 adults and had them fill out questionnaires about their dietary habits every two years.
They found that people who consumed at least one sugar-sweetened drink per day were more than twice as likely to develop stomach cancer than those who never drank it.
And women were the most vulnerable, with a threefold greater chance of being diagnosed with the condition, compared to twice as likely for men.
The researchers noted that while more research is needed to find a firm link between sugary drinks and stomach cancer, the new study is the first of its kind to examine the possible relationship.
The findings also come as scientists race to find causes behind a nationwide rise in stomach cancer rates. especially among adults under 50 years of age.
People who drank just one sugar-sweetened drink such as soda per day were twice as likely to develop stomach cancer in a new study (stock image)
However, artificially sweetened drinks were not associated with an increased risk of stomach cancer.
“This is the first study to demonstrate an association between sugary drink intake and stomach cancer in a US population,” said Andrew T Chan, senior study author and gastroenterologist at Massachusetts General Hospital.
‘Stomach cancer is the fifth leading cause of cancer death worldwide, but we know very little about how diet can contribute to this cancer.’
According to the American Cancer Society, approximately 31,500 Americans are diagnosed with stomach cancer each year and just under 11,000 die.
Patients are on average 68 years old and the majority are diagnosed after the age of 65.
Although the number of cases fell steadily for almost a century from the 2010s, there has been an increase among younger groups.
Among people under 50, diagnoses have increased by about one percent per year, which experts say may be due to ultra-processed foods, antibiotic use and the stomach bacteria H pylori.
Early warning signs can be vague and easy to ignore, including persistent abdominal pain, bloating and frequent belching. Instead of raising the alarm, these symptoms are often dismissed as stress, diet, or minor digestive issues.
Rather than doing something sudden or dramatic, many patients simply report a persistent feeling that something is wrong – a low-level discomfort that gradually worsens over time.
By the time they seek help, they are often in a later, more difficult to treat stage.
Alt-rock band drummer Steven Kopacz is pictured with his family. He is battling stomach cancer for the second time
In the new study, published in Gastro Hep Progressionresearchers looked at health data from 112,284 adults who participated in the Nurses’ Health Study and Health Professionals Follow-Up Study.
Participants completed questionnaires about dietary habits every two years, including information about sugar-sweetened beverages such as soda, punch, lemonade and sports drinks. These generally included high-fructose corn syrup, although the researchers did not specify which sugars the drinks were sweetened with.
However, the team did distinguish between sugar-sweetened drinks and drinks sweetened with artificial sweeteners, such as diet soft drinks.
Between 1986 and 2022, there were 278 documented cases of stomach cancer.
People who consumed at least one sugar-sweetened drink per day – defined as 8 oz or 237 ml – were 2.4 times more likely to develop stomach cancer compared to those who never drank the drinks, after adjusting for other risk factors.
Although the risk was increased for both men and women, women had a three times greater risk, while men were twice as likely to develop the disease. Men tend to be more susceptible to stomach cancer, so the cause of the difference is unclear.
Researchers are still trying to identify the precise reason why sugar-sweetened drinks may increase this risk, and are investigating multiple areas.
Several underlying mechanisms have been proposed, including weight gain, insulin resistance, steroid hormone disruption, inflammation, DNA damage and dysbiosis. [a gut microbiome imbalance]’ they wrote.
‘However, the precise mechanism of the carcinogenic effects of sugar-sweetened drinks remains to be investigated. Future studies are needed to confirm these findings and to investigate the possible biological mechanisms involved.”
