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 Little is known about the causes of biliary tract and gallbladder
tumors, but emerging evidence suggests obesity as well as elevated
blood sugar levels that are a hallmark of diabetes may increase the
risk of these malignancies.
Because sodas and other sugary drinks have been linked to high blood
sugar and weight gain, researchers wondered if these beverages might
play a role in these types of cancer, said lead study author Susanna
Larsson of the Karolinska Institute in Sweden.
To explore this possibility, researchers analyzed survey data on the
eating and drinking habits of more than 70,000 adults then followed
them for more than 13 years on average to see whether cancers got
diagnosed.
Only about 150 people developed biliary tract or gallbladder cancers
during the study period.
But compared with people who avoided sugar-sweetened drinks
altogether, individuals who consumed two or more juice drinks or
sodas, including artificially sweetened sodas, a day had more than
twice the risk of developing gallbladder tumors and 79 percent
higher odds of getting biliary tract cancer, the study found.
“Soda consumption has been inconsistently associated with risk of
biliary tract cancer (only one prior study) and other cancers in
previous similar studies,” Larsson said by email.
The current study “is the first study to show a strong link between
consumption of sweetened beverages, such as soda, and risk of
biliary tract cancer,” Larsson added.
At the start of the study, participants completed food and drink
questionnaires that asked how many sodas or juice drinks they had
consumed in the past week and how much they typically consumed
during the previous year.
When they answered these questions in 1997, participants were 61
years old on average. About half of them were overweight and roughly
25 percent were current smokers.
Researchers excluded people with a previous cancer diagnosis or a
history of diabetes.
The people who drank two or more sodas or sugary beverages a day
were more likely to be overweight and eat a higher-calorie diet with
more sugar and carbohydrates and less protein and fat.
The increased risk of gallbladder and biliary tract tumors
persisted, however, even after researchers adjusted for whether
participants were overweight.
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Because the study is observational, the findings don’t prove soda
and sugary drinks cause cancer.
It’s also possible that because researchers only had data on
drinking habits at the start of the study, the findings might have
been influenced by changes over time in the beverages people
consumed, the authors note in JNCI: Journal of the National Cancer
Institute.
Researchers also lacked precise data to assess how often the sugary
drinks people chose were diet sodas, said Dr. Margo Denke, a former
researcher at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in
Dallas who wasn’t involved in the study
Even so, “this study suggests that there is more than a plausible
link; the incidence of biliary and gall bladder cancer was higher
among individuals who consumed more sodas and juices,” Denke said by
email.
The exact reasons for the connection between sodas and these tumors
may be unclear, but the message for consumers is still simple, said
Dr. Igor Astsaturov, a medical oncologist at Fox Chase Cancer Center
in Philadelphia who wasn’t involved in the study.
“Obviously, this finding signals again and again that healthy
lifestyle is the key to cancer-free life,” Astsaturov said by email.
“Regardless of the cause, it is easy enough to quench the thirst
with water to stay fit and healthy.”
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/29ISzJV JNCI: Journal of the National Cancer
Institute, online June 8, 2016.
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