New research suggests that postmenopausal women who consume
soda or other sugar-sweetened beverages are more likely to develop the most
common type of endometrial cancer than women who stay away from sugary drinks.
The University of Minnesota School of Public Health study,
which was published in the in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers &
Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, found
that women who reported the highest intake of sugar-sweetened beverages had a
78 percent increased risk for estrogen-dependent type I endometrial cancer. The
correlation was found to be dose-dependent: the more sugar-sweetened beverages
a woman drank, the higher her risk.
Researchers used data from 23,039 postmenopausal women who
reported dietary intake, demographic information, and medical history in 1986,
prior to the cancer diagnosis, as part of the Iowa Women’s Health Study. The
subjects' dietary intake was assessed using the Harvard Food Frequency
Questionnaire, which included four questions about how frequently the women
drank sugar-sweetened beverages such as Coke, Pepsi and Hawaiian Punch in the
previous 12 months.
To the leader of the study, Maki Inoue-Choi, Ph.D., M.S.,
R.D., it was not surprising to that women who consumed a lot of sugar-sweetened
beverages were at a higher risk of estrogen-dependent type I endometrial cancer
but not estrogen-independent type II endometrial cancer. “Other studies have
shown increasing consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages has paralleled the
increase in obesity. Obese women tend to have higher levels of estrogens and
insulin than women of normal weight. Increased levels of estrogens and insulin
are established risk factors for endometrial cancer”, said Inoue Choi.
