Sugary drink consumption and risk of cancer: results from NutriNet-Santé prospective cohort

Consuming sugary drinks is associated with an increased risk of obesity – which is a strong risk factor for many cancers. As literature on the association between sugary drinks and cancer has been somewhat limited, there was not enough evidence to support a link in the recent report by the World Cancer Research Fund/American Institute for Cancer Research. A prospective cohort study from France aimed to investigate the effect that the consumption of sugary drinks and artificially sweetened beverages have on cancer risk. The study found that, for the web-based NutriNet-Santé cohort, the consumption of sugary drinks (such as sugar sweetened beverages & 100% fruit juice) was significantly associated with the risk of overall cancer, and also specifically with breast cancer. With around one in two Australian adults consuming either sugary or artificially sweetened beverages at least once per week, these results indicate that sugary drinks may represent an important modifiable risk factor for cancer prevention. Read full text