New Study Adds Pancreatic Cancer to Soda's List of Evils
Gem/flickr Next up: soda may cause wars, famine, divorce.
Just in case those delectable glass-of-fat ads from the health department weren't enough incentive, here's yet another reason to cut back on soda: A new study claims it will put you at increased risk for pancreatic cancer.
The study, which was funded by the National Cancer Institute and published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, tracked 60,524 men and women in the Singapore Chinese Health Study over the course of 14 years and found that those who consumed soda increased their risk of contracting pancreatic cancer by 87 percent.
The study, as the Washington Post reports, is not without its weaknesses: The total number of pancreatic cancer diagnoses was only 140 (pancreatic cancer is a very rare type of cancer, but it also has a very low survival rate), and 18 of those diagnoses were made among people who drank two or more sodas per week. Twelve cases were diagnosed among people who drank less than two, while the vast majority -- 110 -- were among people who didn't drink any soda at all.
Furthermore, the researchers didn't correct for other risk factors, such as a high-fat diet or chronic pancreatitis, and there was no association between pancreatic cancer and people who drank a lot of juice, which also breaks down into the sugars that raise insulin levels and are thought to encourage the development of cancerous cells.
Unsurprisingly, the American Beverage Association is not alarmed. A spokesman for the ABA told the Post that he's going to "continue to drink soft drinks," presumably as if job depended on it.
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