Study links sugary drinks to cancer | Health

A French study found that the consumption of sugary drinks, including 100% fruit juice, could increase the risk of cancer. Scientists from the Sorbonne Paris Cité University monitored the consumption of food and beverages of over 101,000 adults between 2009 and 2017.

They say that although the impact of sugary drinks on obesity and type 2 diabetes is widely studied, the direct badociation with cancer risk is not as well documented .

They concluded in their study published Wednesday in the British Medical Journal that "the consumption of sugary drinks was significantly badociated with the risk of cancer in general".

The team defined sugary drinks as beverages containing more than 5% simple carbohydrates, including soft drinks, syrups, milkshakes and energy drinks, among others, as well as 100% fruit juice.

They found that an additional 100 ml of sugary drinks a day increased the risk of cancer by 18%, but artificially sweetened drinks were not badociated with an increased risk of cancer.

Of the 2,193 cancers contracted during the study, 693 were bad cancers, 291 were prostate cancers and 166 were colorectal cancers. The average age at diagnosis of cancer was 58.5 years.

But the scientists tempered their conclusions by pointing out that the study was "observational" and that although the results also took into account socio-demographic factors – age, bad, education – as well as lifestyle choices such as the smoking or exercising, the necessary to properly establish a causal link.