Mark Pereira, Ph.D/Senior Author of Study
According to a recent study, drinking two or more soft drinks a week nearly doubles your risk of developing pancreatic cancer - one of the most deadly, but rare cancers with only a 5% survival rate beyond 5 years.
The study, lead by Mark Pereira, Ph.D., an associate professor in the School of Public Health at the University of Minnesota, said people who consume carbonated, sugar-sweetened soft drinks on a regular basis tend to have a poor behavioral profile overall, but the sugar in these beverages appears to be the culprit in contributing to the risk of pancreatic cancer.
“The high levels of sugar in soft drinks may be increasing the level of insulin in the body, which we think contributes to pancreatic cancer cell growth,” said Pereira.
For the current study, published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, Pereira and colleagues followed 60,524 men and women in the Singapore Chinese Health Study for 14 years. During that time, there were 140 pancreatic cancer cases. Those who consumed two or more soft drinks per week (averaging five per week) soft drinks per week were associated with an 87% increase of pancreatic cancer compared with individuals who did not.
Pereira said that these results from Singapore are likely applicable to the United States. "Singapore is a wealthy country with excellent health care. Favorite pastimes are eating and shopping, so the findings should apply to other western countries,” said Pereira.
No association was seen between fruit juice consumption and pancreatic cancer.
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