Fructose Was the Main Sweetener in the Drinks Consumed by Participants and Was Associated With Greater Gastric Cancer Incidence

People who drink sugary beverages daily face a higher risk of developing stomach cancer, a new study warns, while hinting that artificial sweeteners may lower the danger. The study, published in the journal Gastro Hep Advances, found that people who consumed at least one serving of a sugar-sweetened beverage a day carried twice the risk of gastric cancer compared with those who drank less than one serving per month. "This is the first study to demonstrate an association between sugar-sweetened beverage intake and gastric cancer in a US population, said Andrew Chan, the study's author.

"Gastric cancer is the fifth leading cause of cancer death worldwide, but we've known very little about how diet might contribute to this cancer. Researchers assessed health and lifestyle data from 112,000 people spanning several decades and found that 278 of them developed gastric cancer. The link was observed in both women and men.

Fructose was the main sweetener in the drinks consumed by participants and was associated with greater gastric cancer incidence. In women, daily consumption of more than one sugar-sweetened beverage — such as punch, lemonade, or sports drinks — was associated with an almost three-fold higher risk of gastric cancer compared with those who drank them rarely. In contrast, higher consumption of artificially sweetened and low-calorie carbonated beverages was not associated with a higher incidence of gastric cancer.

Previous research has linked sugar-sweetened beverages with an increased risk of colorectal, breast, and liver cancers, but evidence on gastric cancer has been limited. The latest study assessed H pylori status in a subset of 940 participants and found no association between sugar-sweetened beverage consumption and infection by this bacterium, which is known to increase gastric cancer risk. Citing the main limitation, researchers said the findings were observational and did not establish a causal link.

There was also limited information on participants' H pylori status and family history of gastric cancer. The participants were predominantly white, limiting the ability to examine differences across racial and ethnic groups. However, since the data included lifestyle information gathered over many years, researchers said they could control for many potential risk factors.

They called for further studies to confirm the findings and investigate why sugar-sweetened beverages increased the danger of gastric cancer. Gastric cancer is the fifth leading cause of cancer death worldwide.