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A treat two thirds of Americans — and most kids — enjoy every day is linked to stomach cancer, new research shows.
We know that a number of lifestyle choices play a big role in cancer. More than 40% of cancer cases and deaths are linked to habits we can change, from smoking to sunbathing.
Diet is especially associated with stomach cancer, where certain foods can damage and inflame the stomach lining.
New research shows that one diet choice could play a role in whether stomach cancer develops: sugar-sweetened beverages, which 63% of American adults drink every day. These are any drinks with sugars added, from a coffee at home to a gas station soda.
They found that people who drink at least one drink with added sugar a day were more than two times more likely to develop stomach cancer compared to people who never drank these beverages.
Sugary drinks and cancer
Researchers looked at 112,000 people’s sugary drink habits between 1986 and 2022.
They found that both men and women had an increased risk of stomach cancer if they had at least one 8-ounce drink with added sugar a day.
The risk for women who had drinks with added sugar was higher (3 times) than for men (2 times) compared to those who never drank them. Overall, people who drank sugary drinks had 2.45 times the risk of getting stomach cancer compared to those who never drank them.
Stomach cancer is the fifth most common cancer in the world, though in the U.S. it’s become much less common.
The biggest risk factors in the U.S. include diet, especially eating a lot of foods that are salted or pickled, grilled meats and not enough fruits. Another risk factor is excess body weight, to which sugary drinks can contribute.
Certain meats, for example, could damage the colon lining, allowing cancerous cells to grow more easily. Alcohol breaks down into potential carcinogens in the body.
And for those who choose diet sodas, this research suggests that’s a great choice. Despite some recent research that suggests artificial sweeteners could be linked to cancer, experts largely agree it’s not necessary to avoid them and can help keep weight down — which is important in reducing cancer risk.
Sugary drinks aren’t created equal
“Sugar-sweetened beverages,” or SSBs, are a huge category that encompasses any drink with sugar added.
Juice, for example, has natural sugars but becomes an SSB when sugar is added on top of that. Other, more prominent examples include regular (non-diet) soda, energy drinks, sports drinks, lemonade, and punch.
But all SSBs are not all equally bad for you.
Drinks with more sugar, or those with sugar from processed sources (like high fructose corn syrup), are worse for you than small amounts of sugar — like a morning coffee with one packet of sugar.
And how often you drink them matters, too.
As long as you limit added sugar and keep processed foods to a minimum, these foods “can be part of a healthy diet when balanced with foods that are less processed,” the American Cancer Society writes.
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