Sugary drinks may more than double stomach cancer risk, study finds

The harmful effects of sugar are increasingly evident through the disease risks linked to sugary drinks. As research continues to connect sugar-sweetened beverages to a range of illnesses, a new study has identified an association with stomach cancer.

The journal Gastro Hep Advances published in August a study from the Mass General Brigham Cancer Institute in Boston. The prospective cohort study analyzed data from 112,284 participants spanning 1986 to 2022. In a prospective cohort study, researchers document participants' dietary and lifestyle habits at the outset, then follow them over time to track disease development.

The research team collected detailed information on participants' diets, lifestyles and health. Over the decades-long follow-up period, 278 participants developed stomach cancer.

Andrew T. Chan, a gastroenterologist and the study's lead author, said the research "is the first to demonstrate an association between sugar-sweetened beverage consumption and stomach cancer incidence in a US population."

The analysis found that people who drank at least one sugar-sweetened beverage per day faced roughly 2.5 times the stomach cancer risk of those who consumed fewer than one per month. Sugar-sweetened beverages included lemonade, carbonated soft drinks and sports drinks.

The researchers warned that sugar-sweetened beverages "may more than double the risk of developing stomach cancer," suggesting that weight gain, increased insulin resistance, hormonal imbalance and inflammation could be among the contributing factors.

Sweet, sugary drinks are a staple of the South Korean diet. Beverages account for roughly one-third of the sugar Koreans consume through processed foods — the largest share of any food category.

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety analyzed data from the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency's 2023 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and found that South Koreans consume an average of 35.5 grams of sugar per day from processed foods, equivalent to 7.7 percent of total daily caloric intake. Of that, 11.4 grams came from beverages — the highest of any category, representing 32 percent of total processed-food sugar intake and more than double the 5.4 grams from the second-ranked category of snacks, bread and rice cakes.