25th November, 2013
Women addicted to sugar-sweetened beverages and carbonated drinks do not only risk obesity, diabetes and heart disease, they also risk cancer, according to a new health study.
Sugary drinks increase the risk of endometrial cancer, the study published in the current edition of the journal of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention said.
According to Mayo Clinic, a popular international health institute, endometrial cancer is a type of cancer that begins in the uterus, the hollow, pear-shaped pelvic organ in women where fetal development occurs.
It adds that this type of cancer can be detected at an early stage because it frequently produces abnormal vaginal bleeding. Its treatment includes removing the uterus through surgical operation. To get the current study report, researchers reportedly analysed data collected from 23,039 women who have experienced menopause with the data including information on their dietary intake and medical history as well as consumption of sugary and carbonated drinks..
The outcome of the researchers showed that the women with the highest intake of sugary drinks had a 78 percent increased risk of developing ‘estrogen-dependent type 1 endometrial cancer’ which is the most common type of endometrial cancer in women.
The study author, Maki Inoue-Choi, a research associate at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health in Minneapolis, was quoted by FoxNews.com as saying “we know that higher consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages may increase body fat, and higher body fat may increase estrogen levels.
“Obese and overweight (women) may have up to 3.5 times higher risk for endometrial cancer.”
Inoue-Choi said the difference between sugar found in beverages and those found in whole foods is that the latter comes with other nutrients, fat, and fibre which could slow sugar absorption, but in beverages the sugar is absorbed more quickly.
The study author, while urging for deeper research into the new discovery, urged people, especially women, to avoid sugar-sweetened beverage intake, because it may increase the risk of health conditions like obesity, diabetes heart disease and cancer.
The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that by the end of this year, 49,560 women in the United States alone would have been diagnosed with endometrial cancer.
—Eromosele Ebhomele