Two soft drinks a week doubles your risk of pancreatic cancer, say experts

Published on Sunday 7 February 2010 21:55

DRINKING sugary soft drinks can dramatically increase the risk of pancreatic cancer, research has suggested.

Consuming as little as two soft drinks a week can almost double the chances of developing the disease, one of the most deadly forms of cancer, a study found.

Scientists believe the high sugar content of many soft drinks may explain the trend.

With recent figures showing that Scotland is the highest consumer of soft drinks per household in the UK – with 324 litres consumed annually at a cost of 278 – the results could be particularly alarming to many Scots.

However, since pancreatic cancer is relatively rare – affecting about 7,600 people each year in the UK – the absolute risk from soft drinks is small.

Recent figures from Cancer Research UK, however, show pancreatic cancer rates in Scotland to be slightly higher than elsewhere in the UK, with 13.9 people in every 100,000 of the population diagnosed with the disease compared with 12.5 per cent in England.

Those diagnosed with the disease have a poor prognosis. Only 2-3 per cent of patients in the UK survive as long as five years.

Researchers based their findings on more than 60,500 participants recruited for a large-scale health study in Singapore.

Over the course of 14 years, 140 of the volunteers were diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

Those who consumed two or more soft drinks a week – averaging five in total – had an 87 per cent increased risk of developing the disease compared with those who did not.

Figures from a recent Soft Drinks Report compiled by Britvic and based on independent data from consumer analysts Nielsen, showed that more than 8 billion is spent on soft drinks in the UK.

In the latest scientific study, most of the "soft drinks" concerned were of the fizzy sugar-sweetened variety.

No association was seen between the consumption of fruit juice and pancreatic cancer.

Study leader Dr Mark Pereira, from the School of Public Health at the University of Minnesota in the US, said: "The high levels of sugar in soft drinks may be increasing the level of insulin in the body, which we think contributes to pancreatic cancer cell growth.

"Singapore is a wealthy country with excellent healthcare. Favourite pastimes are eating and shopping, so the findings should apply to other Western countries."

The research is published today in the journal Cancer, Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevent.

Jessica Harris, from the charity Cancer Research UK, said: "Although this study included a lot of people, very few of them developed pancreatic cancer so it is difficult to know if soft drinks do increase the risk of pancreatic cancer, or whether the results are just down to chance.

"Also, people who drank lots of fizzy drinks in this study were more likely to be unhealthy in other ways, like smoking, eating more calories, and being less active, so it is difficult to separate the effects of all of these things."