New study says soda is linked to some rare cancers
You might want to put than bottle of soda down and read this. A new study has found that soda-drinkers are more likely to get cancers, rare ones that develop namely in the liver and gallbladder. According to Reuters, not much is known about how tumors grow in the biliary tract and gallbladder. However, there is new evidence that may suggest that obesity as well as elevated blood sugar levels that indicate diabetes might also be the same link to the tumors. Researchers studied the dietary habits of 70,000 adults for 13 years to see if any cancers were diagnosed.
Out of the 70,000 adults, only 150 people developed biliary tract or gallbladder cancers during the study period. This might seem like a small number, but people who drank two or more juice drinks or sodas (including diet sodas) a day had “twice the risk of developing gallbladder tumors and 79 percent higher odds of getting biliary tract cancer.” According to lead study author Susanna Larsson of the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, this study “is the first study to show a strong link between consumption of sweetened beverages, such as soda, and risk of biliary tract cancer.”
But don’t stress out too much about your soda habit. Since this was the first study of it’s kind, there isn’t enough data to directly link soda to the cancers. It couldn’t asses how often the drinks consumed were diet sodas, as well as previous histories of diabetes and other cancers. The researchers only had data on the drinking habits of the participants at the beginning of the study.
Whether or not soda and sugary drinks cause rare cancers, it’s probably a good idea to switch out these drinks for a healthier option.