Chances are you’ll bear in mind that frequent use of sugary drinks is related to an increased risk of health hazards, including weight gain, obesity, diabetes and heart disease. Here is another excuse to chop down on sugary beverages – liver cancer.
Latest research shows that every day consumption of such drinks could significantly raise the chance of liver cancer and death from chronic liver disease.
Roughly 65% of adults within the U.S. devour sugar-sweetened beverages every day, which comprise regular soda, sweetened fruit drinks, sports/energy drinks and sweetened coffee/tea drinks.
In the most recent study, published in JAMA Network, researchers found women who consumed a number of sugar-sweetened beverages every day were at an 85% higher risk of developing liver cancer.
The observational study evaluated the sugary drink consumption of 100,000 women of post-menopausal age across the U.S. They were then followed up for over 20 years to research the incidence of cancer and death attributable to chronic liver diseases resembling fibrosis, cirrhosis or chronic hepatitis.
Among the many participants, 207 women developed liver cancer and 148 died from chronic liver disease. Some 6.8% of participants drank sugar-sweetened beverages every day, while 13% drank artificially sweetened beverages. Those that consumed a number of sugar-sweetened beverages every day were at an 85% higher risk of liver cancer. The danger of chronic liver disease mortality was 68% higher in them.
“In postmenopausal women, compared with consuming three or fewer servings of sugar-sweetened beverages monthly, those that consumed a number of sugar-sweetened beverages per day had a better incidence of liver cancer and death from chronic liver disease,” the researchers wrote.
The participants who drank artificially sweetened beverages didn’t show a big risk of liver problems.
The study has not evaluated the precise mechanism by which sugary drinks pose hostile liver effects. Researchers consider it is perhaps because high consumption of sweetened beverages elevates blood glucose and insulin resistance – the aspects closely linked to the heightened risk of liver cancer and liver diseases.
“Though sugar-sweetened beverage intake has declined steadily within the U.S. from 2003 through 2018, the general intake stays high, with 65.3% of white adults who reported consuming not less than some sugar-sweetened beverages on a given day in 2017-2018,” Xuehong Zhang and co-author Longgang Zhao, told MedPage Today.
“Our findings suggest sugar-sweetened beverages as a possible modifiable risk factor for liver cancer and chronic liver disease mortality. If our findings are confirmed, reducing sugar-sweetened beverage consumption might function a public health strategy to cut back liver disease burden,” they added.
Published by Medicaldaily.com