Soft Drinks Increase Risk of Pancreatic Cancer 91%

Sweetened foods and drinks increase the risk of developing pancreatic cancer, according to a study published November 2006 in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Soft drinks and sugar in processed foods and coffee are among the most common ways the risk is increased.

Some 80,000 men and women had their dietary habits monitored between 1997 and 2005. By the end of the study, 131 had pancreatic cancer.

Most at risk were those who drank soft drinks; those who drank them twice a day or more had a 91 percent higher risk than those who never drank them at all. People who added sugar to food or drinks (e.g. coffee) at least five times a day ran a 70 percent greater risk than those who refrained from doing so.

Those who ate fruit jam or jelly at least once a day also ran a 50 percent higher risk than those who never ate the product.

Pancreatic cancer may be caused when the pancreas produces increased levels of insulin; high sugar consumption is a well-known way of increasing insulin production.

Dr. Otto Warburg received a Nobel prize over 75 years ago for discovering that cancer thrives in an anaerobic environment, fed by sugar. Sadly, physicians fail to appreciate the enormous influence that sugar has on cancer growth and coach their patients to limit sugar intake.

Pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest and most difficult cancers to treat. Once diagnosed most patients are not alive in three months. Do you really want to increase your risk of getting it? Well, stop drinking soda, and artificially sweetened soda is a poor substitute.

Consider stevia as an alternative zero-calorie, zero-glycemic sweetener.

Source

Susanna C Larsson, Leif Bergkvist and Alicja Wolk. Consumption of sugar and sugar-sweetened foods and the risk of pancreatic cancer in a prospective study. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition November 2006; 84(5): 1171-1176.

Key concepts: soda, soft drink, sugar, pancreatic cancer