University of Minnesota study links soda to pancreatic cancer

MINNEAPOLIS -- A new University of Minnesota study suggests drinking two or more soft drinks a week nearly doubles the risk of pancreatic cancer.

Researchers from the School of Public Health studied more than 60,000 adults in Singapore for 14 years.  They found that those who drank more than two soft drinks a week were 87 percent more likely to develop pancreatic cancer.

"They were about twice as likely to die of pancreatic cancer than the people in the study who were not consuming soft drinks," said Mark Pereira, an associate professor who co-authored the study that appears in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention. 

Still, researchers did find only 140 of the people studied actually developed pancreatic cancer.  But experts say that number, combined with other known risks of drinking soda, should discourage people from continuing to consume soda.

"I think they should avoid pop based on all the other literature, especially three things: dental health, type two diabetes and obesity," Pereira said.

Pereira said researchers believe the increased risk of cancer may relate to the jump in blood sugar that happens when a person drinks a sugary pop.  That increase prompts the pancreas to develop insulin to bring the blood sugar down; and experts believe that insulin may promote growth of cancer cells.

The study relates only to regular, not diet, soda.  Pereira said it also does not apply to sugary juices, because juices have a different kind of sugar and have some nutritional value.

Still, Pereira admits more research needs to be done to provide proof of a direct cause-and-effect relationship between soda and cancer.

"This study doesn't say if you drink pop you get cancer.  It just suggests that this might be one of the many risk factors that will contribute to the disease possibly," Pereira said.

Not all medical experts buy the study's conclusions.

"To try to make a cause and effect link between soda consumption and pancreatic cancer with these few number of cases is ridiculous on its face," said Dr. Gilbert Ross with the American Council of Science and Health, which gets about 5 percent of its funding from the food industry.

Ross also disagreed with the study's theory on insulin.

"Drinking that much sugary soda will not lead to an increase in blood sugar in most people except for those with diabetes or pre-diabetes," Ross said.

The new study is published this week in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.  

Check out our KARE family of Web sites:
	takeKARE		Metromix
	Moms Like Me		Minnesota Bound
	Showcase Minnesota		HighSchoolSports.net