Sugar-sweetened drinks might increase your risk of certain types of liver cancer

Publicly released:
International
Photo by Shayna Douglas on Unsplash
Photo by Shayna Douglas on Unsplash

Sugar-sweetened drinks appear to increase the risk of two types of liver cancer, while artificially sweetened drinks do not, according to international research, which found that even a one beverage per day increase in sugar-sweetened drinks increased the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma - the most common type of primary liver cancer - and intrahepatic cholanglocarcinoma - a rare but highly aggressive form of liver cancer. The study analysed the data from 11 prior studies, which included over 1.5 million adults, to assess the liver cancer risk for people drinking sugar-sweetened drinks compared with artificially sweetened drinks. While sugar-sweetened drinks were associated with increased liver cancer risk, artificially sweetened drinks were not found to increase liver cancer risk, and the authors say that the overall evidence for an association between the artificial sweetener aspartame and hepatocellular carcinoma in particular is not supported by their analysis.

News release

From: JAMA

About The Study: In this study, increased sugar-sweetened beverage consumption was associated with increased risk of hepatocellular carcinoma and intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma. There was little evidence that artificially sweetened beverage intake was associated with liver cancer risk overall or by subtype.

Journal/
conference:
JAMA Network Open
Research:Paper
Organisation/s: National Cancer Institute, USA
Funder: DrWatling is supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Fellowship (187861). Drs Watling and McGlynn and Ms Amparo Gonzalez-Feliciano are supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Intramural Program. Dr Petrick is supported by the Boston University Peter Paul Career Development Professorship. The Southern Community Cohort Study is supported by grant U01 CA202979 from the NIH. This research was supported in part by the Intramural Research Program of the NIH.
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