Sodas Linked to Gallbladder Cancer

Soda/Sugary Beverages Linked to Gallbladder Cancer

According to a Swedish study, individuals who tend to consume plenty of soda or any other sugary beverages could be at a greater risk of being affected by rare cancers in the gallbladder and bile ducts surrounding the liver.Not much is known regarding the causes of biliary tract together with gallbladder tumours though initial evidence recommend obesity and elevated blood sugar levels which are a symbol of diabetes could increase the risk of these menaces.

Susanna Larsson of the Karolinska Institute in Sweden stated that since sodas and the other sugary drinks have been connected to high blood sugar as well as weight gain, researchers speculated if these drinkscould play a role in these kinds of cancer.

To discover the possibility, researchers investigated the survey data on eating and drinking habits of over 70,000 adults and thereafter followed them for over 13 years on an average to check whether cancer was diagnosed. During the study period, around 150 people had developed biliary tract or gallbladder cancers. The study observed that when compared with people who seemed to refrain from sugar sweetened drinks overall, individuals who had consumed two and more juice beverages or soda, inclusive of artificially sweetened sodas each day had more thandoublethe risk of having gallbladder tumours and 79% higher chancesof developing biliary tract cancer.

Soda Consumption Connected with Risk of Biliary Tract Cancer

Larsson had mentioned in her email that soda consumption has been inconsistently connected with the risk of biliary tract cancer and other cancers in earlier similar studies. Larsson adds that the present study is the first study showing a strong connection between consumption of sweetened beverages like soda and the risk of biliary tract cancer.

 Towards the beginning of the study, participants completed the food and drink questionnaires which queried on how many sodas or juice drinks had been consumed by them in the past week and how much they had typically consumed during the earlier year. When they had answered these questions in 1997, the participants were of 61 years old on an average and about half of them seemed to be overweight and approximately 25% seemed to be current smokers. The researchers had excluded individuals who had earlier cancer diagnosis or a history of diabetes.

Precise Reason for Connection Between Sodas & Tumours Unclear

Those who consumed two or more sodas or sugary drinks daily were more likely of being overweight and had a higher-calorie intake with more sugar and carbohydrates and less protein and fat. The risk of gallbladder and biliary tract tumours continued though even after researchers adjusted to participantsregardlessof being overweight. Since the study is said to be observational, the conclusions does not prove that soda and sugary drinks could cause cancer.

The authors noted in JNCI – Journal of the National Cancer Institute that there could be a possibility that since researchers only haddata on the habits of drinking at the beginning of the study, the results could have been influenced due to changes over a period of time in the beverages that people consumed. Dr Margo Denke, a former researcher at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas who was not involved in the study stated that the researchers also were short of exact data in evaluating how often the drinks people opted were diet sodas.

Dr Igor Astsaturov, a medical oncologist at Fox Chase Cancer Centre in Philadelphia also not involved in the study commented that the precise reasons for the connection between sodas and these tumours could be unclear, though the message for consumers is still simple.