According to a large study of postmenopausal women, avoiding sugary drinks may help minimise the chance of developing liver cancer.
According to a research of over 90,000 postmenopausal women, those who drank at least one sugar-sweetened beverage on a monthly basis had a 78 percent higher risk of developing liver cancer than those who consumed fewer than three servings of these beverages each month.
“Our data indicate that sugar-sweetened beverage intake may be a modifiable risk factor for
“Our findings show that sugar-sweetened beverage intake is a potentially modifiable risk factor for liver cancer,” said Longgang Zhao, the study’s principal author and a doctorate candidate at the University of South Carolina. “If our findings are validated, limiting sugar-sweetened beverage intake might be used as a public health approach to minimise the prevalence of liver cancer.” “Replacing sugar-sweetened drinks with water and non-sugar-sweetened coffee or tea may reduce the risk of liver cancer considerably.”
Zhao presented the findings at the American Society for Nutrition’s flagship annual conference, NUTRITION 2022 LIVE ONLINE, which took place June 14-16. Zhao and Xuehong Zhang, an associate epidemiologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, co-authored the study.
The incidence of liver cancer in the United States has climbed dramatically during the previous three decades. Despite the fact that the majority of patients have risk factors such as chronic hepatitis, alcohol use, and diabetes, around 40% of liver cancer cases cannot be explained by identified risk factors. The study’s purpose was to see if particular dietary items were implicated.
Regular consumption of sugary beverages, such as fruit juice and soda, has been linked to a variety of health problems. Although the usage of sugar-sweetened drinks has reduced over time, it is still common; in the United States, more than two-thirds of White people reported eating at least some of these beverages on any given day in 2017-2018. “Our data indicate that sugar-sweetened beverage intake may be a modifiable risk factor
The present study analysed data from 90,504 postmenopausal women who participated in the Women’s Health Initiative, a long-term study that began in the early 1990s. Participants completed baseline surveys in the mid-1990s and were followed for an average of 18 years. Validated food frequency questionnaires were utilised to evaluate sugar-sweetened beverage intake, and medical records were used to confirm liver cancer diagnoses.
Approximately 7% of participants reported eating one or more 12-ounce cups of sugar-sweetened drinks per day, and 205 women were diagnosed with liver cancer. Women who drank one or more sugar-sweetened beverages daily were 78% more likely to acquire liver cancer, while those who drank at least one soft drink per day were 73% more likely to develop liver cancer than those who never drank these beverages or drank fewer than three servings per month.
Although further study is needed to establish the motives and processes underlying the association, experts believe that increased sugar-sweetened beverage intake may raise the likelihood of obesity and type 2 diabetes, both of which are risk factors for liver cancer. These beverages can also lead to insulin resistance and fat deposition in the liver, both of which have an impact on liver function.
“Intake of sugar-sweetened drinks, which is thought to be a risk factor for obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease, may cause insulin resistance and inflammation, both of which are strongly linked to liver carcinogenesis,” Zhao explained.
The study was meant to discover if sugar-sweetened beverages truly cause liver cancer or if intake of sugar-sweetened beverages is an indication of other lifestyle variables that contribute to liver cancer, according to the researchers. Furthermore, because the study focused on postmenopausal women, investigations involving males and younger women are required to evaluate the relationships more thoroughly.
