Does increased soft drink consumption cause pancreatic cancer?
Is there a link between the high glycemic load and index of a sugar containing soft drink and the risk of pancreatic cancer?
Well, anytime a medical study shows an increase of 87%, then it causes us to stop and take another look at the conclusions.
Until last week, most studies had been completed with only mostly Caucasian pools of people in the test groups. Now a report comes out that was based on people of Asian descent.
The conclusion is still preliminary, but it showed that sugar-sweetened carbonated beverages increased the risk of getting cancer of the pancreas, whereas fruit juices did not.
Details:
-60,524 men and women followed for 14 years
-those who drank at least 2 and an average of 5 sugar-sweetened carbonated drinks per week had an increased risk of developing pancreatic cancer than those who did not
-only 5% of people diagnosed with the rare form of cancer are alive after 5 years
It seems that the link is that increased intake of sugar causes the pancreas to work extra hard. Why? The pancreas releases insulin to help your body control the sugar levels in your blood. If you increase the amount of sugar you consume, you will increase the amount of work your pancreas must do.
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