Recent research from Mass General Brigham indicates that consuming sugary drinks may greatly increase the risk of stomach cancer. The study shows that consuming one or more sugary beverages daily triples the risk of gastric cancer compared to those who have less than one serving a month.

In the United States, about two-thirds of adults reportedly drink sugar-sweetened beverages daily, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Although previous studies linked sugary drinks to increased rates of liver, breast, and colorectal cancers, their impact on gastric tissue was less clear until this study.

The study involved more than 100,000 participants from the Nurses’ Health Study and Health Professionals Follow-Up Study. Findings showed that daily consumption of sugary drinks resulted in a 2.45 times higher risk of gastric cancer compared to less frequent consumption.

These studies, conducted by researchers affiliated with Harvard, explored links between lifestyle, diet, and chronic diseases among healthcare professionals.

It’s definitely a concern because we are seeing an increase in cancers of the gastrointestinal tract, particularly in young people under 50, said senior author Andrew T. Chan, a gastroenterologist and epidemiologist at Mass General Brigham Cancer Institute in Boston.

The consumption of sugary drinks and ultraprocessed foods may be contributing to these rising cancer trends.

Gastric cancer is highly associated with Helicobacter pylori bacteria found in the stomach lining. However, in this study’s subset of participants, sugary drink consumption did not correlate with H. pylori, supporting the idea that fructose could play a role.

Women who drank more than one sugary drink per day showed a more than threefold increase in gastric cancer incidence.

Sugar-sweetened beverages, defined in the study as regular sodas, fruit punches, lemonade, and sports drinks, have fructose as the main sweetener. Higher fructose intake was linked to an increased risk of stomach cancer.

Interestingly, artificially sweetened drinks, such as diet sodas and low-calorie carbonated beverages, did not correlate with increased cancer risk among the study’s large cohort.

The research was observational, meaning it found a correlation rather than direct causation. Most participants were White healthcare professionals, suggesting a need for wider population studies.

Dr. Chan noted, The study is unable to really prove cause and effect. What we did see was an association. We certainly need to do more research to understand whether this association between sugary sweetened beverages and stomach cancer is truly causal.

The study’s findings were published in the journal Gastro Hep Advances.