In a study from the University of South Carolina, scientists found that the intake of one or more sugary beverages every day is associated with an increased risk of liver cancer.
They examined the association between sugary drink intake and the risk of liver cancer among 90,504 women aged 50 to 79 years.
The data were from the Women’s Health Initiative Observational Study and Clinical Trials excluding Dietary Modification Trial participants.
Sugary drink intake was defined as the sum of soft drinks and fruit drinks and was assessed by a food frequency questionnaire.
Self-reported questionnaires were used to identify liver cancers, which were further confirmed by medical record review.
The researchers found that 205 women had confirmed liver cancer after 19 years of follow-up. Overall, about 7.3 percent of women consumed one or more servings of SSB/per day.
The risk of liver cancer was increased in association with higher sugary drink intake.
After further adjustment for coffee/tea intake, history of liver diseases, and other confounding variables, the results were similar.
The team says if their findings are confirmed, reducing sugar-sweetened beverage consumption might serve as a public health strategy to reduce liver cancer burden.
Replacing sugar-sweetened beverages with water, and non-sugar-sweetened coffee or tea could strongly lower liver cancer risk.
If you care about liver health, please read studies about dairy foods linked to liver cancer, and coffee drinkers may halve their risk of liver cancer.
For more information about liver health, please see recent studies that alternate day fasting could benefit people with fatty liver disease, and results showing vitamin D could help prevent non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.
The study was conducted by Longgang Zhao et al and presented at the annual meeting of the American Society for Nutrition.
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