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There is new evidence that drinking sugar – in 100% fruit juice, soda, sweetened coffee and tea – can increase the risk of cancer.
A new study of more than 100,000 healthy adults suggests that, regardless of your identity and health, if you drink sugar (whether natural or artificial), you are more likely to develop cancer that someone who chooses unsweetened drinks.
"The results regarding fruit juices can be surprising because fruit juices have a healthy image," Mathilde Touvier, principal author of the study, told Business Insider.
But Touvier noted that when you compare the amount of sugar in a serving of fruit juice to a soft drink, the drinks look remarkably alike. So it should not be surprising that juices can harm our health in the long run.
"They contain vitamins, a little dietary fiber and no food additives," said Touvier. "But they also contain a lot of sugar."
The results of his study, published today in the BMJ, suggest that, regardless of other factors such as the age of a person, his family history, his activity, his or her education level or even they are on birth control, people who drink more sugar tend to have more cancer.
The discovery does not prove that sugary drinks cause cancer, but the badociation is "significant," said the study's authors.
Follow sugar drinkers for years
This is not the first time that sugary drinks are badociated with poor health outcomes. Previous research has also suggested that drinking more juice increases the risk of death and increases the risk of developing heart problems, type 2 diabetes, or cancer.
But this study is one of the first that aims to dissociate the dangerous effects of sugar on the body from the consequences of weight gain, metabolic problems and heart problems that are often a side effect of the sweet drink.
The new study is based on data from 101,257 French adults who participated in the NutriNet-Santé study between 2009 and 2017. The giant study attempted to control all types of health factors: the authors explained the weight and height of people, exercise and dietary habits, education, family cancer history and other potential confounders.
The researchers then interviewed participants from time to time during the multi-year study, sometimes asking them detailed questions about what they ate in 24-hour periods. Scientists have included all kinds of sugary drinks in their badyzes: soft drinks, syrups, 100% fruit juice, fruity drinks, hot sweetened beverages, sweet milk-based hot drinks, sports drinks and energy drinks.
Then the researchers calculated who had the cancer. According to their badysis, it did not matter what type of sugar people drank: Those who drank only 3.3 ounces of sugar a day increased their cancer risk by 18%.
When calculations were excluded from soft drinks and other artificially sweetened beverages, the data nonetheless showed that a person who drinks 100 ml of extra fruit juice a day (3.3 ounces) may increase his risk of developing cancer. 12%, compared to a person who drinks less or no juice. (The results suggest a particularly strong correlation for bad cancer in women.)
"I think the juice is a bit more complicated than people realize, white grape juice and apple juice are very high in sugar, and it's basically the same thing as drinking a soda." said Vasanti Malik, a nutrition researcher at Harvard's TH Chan School of Public Health who has not been involved in the new study, said Business Insider. "Certainly, evidence linking juice to a number of obesity and potential cardio-metabolic health problems encourage me to be more careful with my children regarding juice consumption."
A little juice could be good, however
The juice works similarly in the body to soda and sweet tea, Malik said, as they all lead to an "increase in glucose in the blood" when they are digested.
So "it's not so surprising" that all these types of sugary drinks seem to be related to cancer, she added.
In addition to increasing the risks of obesity and diabetes, these same blood sugar spikes could also contribute to cancer, Malik said.
However, she is not ready to dismiss all the liquid fruits sprayed for the moment. The new study was an observational study, so that "it could simply be the case that more sick people drink more juice, or that another confusing interaction is at work." . It is impossible for a study like this to perfectly measure confounders like this one.
"The juice contains vitamins, antioxidants that are beneficial for cardiovascular health and possibly cancer, but the high levels of sugar in the juice are harmful, so it's quite difficult," Malik said.
She said she hoped to see more rigorous studies, especially randomized controlled trials, to get a better idea of the impact of different juices on our body over time.
For now, Touvier said that if you like juices, you can enjoy a little on occasion.
"The idea is not to totally avoid drinking sugary drinks or fruit juices," she said. "It's just to balance that in our diet and drink less than one drink a day."
The World Health Organization subscribes to this advice: The agency suggests not to consume more than 10% of its daily calories in the form of "free sugars", be they sugary drinks, sweets, honey or natural syrups. The US Department of Agriculture (USDA), on the other hand, only warns people against the dangers of added sugars, recommending that they limit them to 10% of their daily calories.
"It's a complicated subject with many lobbies," said Touvier.
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