Sugary Soda Linked to Pancreatic Cancer

By Bridget Tyler on February 9th, 2010

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If you needed another reason to not allow your kids to drink too much soda, you’ve got one.  A new study shows that people who drink two or more sweetened soft drinks a week have a heightened risk of pancreatic cancer.  Sugar has long been suspected of contributing to cancer risks because tumor cells use more glucose than other cells. However, evidence of this link is contradictory at best.  People in the current study who drank fruit juice instead of soda did not have the same risk.

Pancreatic cancer is an unusual, but almost always deadly, cancer. Last year there were 42,470 new cases of pancreatic cancer in the United States and 35,240 deaths due to the disease. Pancreatic cancer is often asymptomatic – sometimes it’s even called the “silent disease.” As the cancer progresses, symptoms may include pain in the upper abdomen or upper back, yellow skin and eyes, dark urine from jaundice, weakness, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting and weight loss.  Pancreatic cancer can only be cured when it is found at an early stage, before it has spread.

The high intake of sugar that comes with drinking a lot of sugared soda may be increasing the level of insulin in the body, which doctors believe contributes to pancreatic cancer cell growth. The study, conducted in Singapore with a relatively small sample group, shows a risk but is not conclusive.  Soft drink consumption in Singapore is often associated with other adverse health behaviors like smoking and red meat consumption.

But, given the myriad of other reasons to avoid regular soft drinks (and diet ones, for that matter) why not swap that coke for a nice glass of juice, just in case?