New research from Mass General Brigham indicates that consuming even one sugary drink daily could significantly increase the risk of developing stomach cancer. After factoring in other risk elements, the study revealed that having one or more sugary beverages each day was linked to nearly three times the risk compared to those who had fewer than one serving per month.
According to CDC statistics, about 63% of adults in the U.S. consume sugar-sweetened beverages at least once a day.
While past research has connected sugary drinks to elevated rates of certain cancers—like liver, breast, and colorectal—their specific effects on gastric tissues were not fully understood until this latest study.
This research analyzed data from over 100,000 participants involved in the Nurses’ Health Study and Health Professionals Follow-Up Study. Conducted by researchers affiliated with Harvard, the long-term cohort studies explored relationships between diet, lifestyle, and chronic diseases among healthcare workers.
Senior author Andrew T. Chan, a gastroenterologist and epidemiologist at the Mass General Brigham Cancer Institute, expressed concern. “We are seeing an increase in gastrointestinal cancers, especially among younger people under 50,” he said. Chan also suggested that rising consumption of sugary drinks and ultra-processed foods likely contributes to these cancer trends.
It’s worth noting that gastric cancer is closely associated with Helicobacter pylori bacteria, which inhabits the stomach lining. In a subgroup of this study’s participants, no link was identified between sugary drink consumption and H. pylori presence, strengthening the idea that sugar, specifically fructose, might play a role in cancer development.
Additionally, female participants who consumed more than one sugary drink daily showed more than a threefold increase in gastric cancer rates. The researchers defined sugar-sweetened drinks to include regular sodas, fruit punches, lemonade, and sports beverages, all of which primarily use fructose as the sweetener. Higher fructose intake was consistently tied to an increased stomach cancer risk.
Importantly, artificially sweetened beverages, such as diet sodas, did not appear to elevate the risk of gastric cancer among the study’s more than 100,000 subjects.
The nature of this research was observational, indicating it could demonstrate correlation but not direct causation. The study primarily focused on White healthcare professionals, highlighting the need for additional research across more diverse demographic groups.
Chan emphasized the limitations of the study, stating, “We certainly need more research to determine if the association between sugary drinks and stomach cancer is genuinely causal.” The findings were published in the journal Gastro Hep Advances.
