Study Finds Possible Link between Sugary Drinks, Cancer

 

People who drink a lot of sugary drinks have a high risk of developing cancer, researchers announced last week. However, the evidence cannot yet establish a direct connection between the two.

The researchers said the findings¹ of a large study in France suggest that limiting the amount of sugar-sweetened drinks may help reduce the number of cancer cases.

Drinking sugary drinks has become more common worldwide in the last several decades. Sugar drinks are linked to obesity² – the condition of being extremely overweight -- which increases a person’s cancer risk.

The study was published in the BMJ British medical journal³. It looked at data from just over 100,000 French adults – 21 percent of them men and 79 percent women. The researchers noted⁴ how many sugary drinks each of them had, and followed them for up to nine years -- between 2009 and 2018. The researchers measured their risk for all types of cancer, and some individual ones such as breast, colon⁵ and prostate cancers.

The researchers adjusted for other possible cancer risks in each individual, including age, sex, educational level, family history, smoking and physical activity levels.

The scientists found that a 100 milliliters increase in sugary drinks was linked to an 18 percent increased risk of overall⁶ cancer and a 22 percent increased risk of breast cancer.

The researchers looked at those who drank fruity juices and those who drank other sweet drinks. Both groups, they found, showed a higher risk of cancer overall.

For prostate and colorectal cancers, no link was found. The researchers said this might have been because there was only a limited number of cases of these cancers in the study group.

Experts not directly involved in the work said it was a well-run study, but noted that its results could not establish cause and effect.

Amelia Lake is an expert in public health nutrition at Britain’s Teesside University. She said that while this study does not provide a definite cause and effect between sugar and cancer, it does add to the importance of efforts to reduce sugar intake⁷.

“The message from the totality of evidence on excess⁸ sugar consumption⁹ and various health outcomes¹⁰ is clear,” she said. “Reducing the amount of sugar in our diet is extremely important.”

The researchers themselves also noted that the results would need to be repeated in future large studies.

The World Health Organization recommends that people should limit how much sugar they have to less than 10 percent of their total energy intake.

Many countries, including Britain, Belgium, France, Hungary and Mexico, have introduced or are about to introduce taxes on sugar with the aim of improving people’s health.

I’m Anne Ball.

Words in This Story

decade – n. a period of ten years

adjust – v. to make an amount or number more exact by considering other information — usually + for

cause and effect – phrase. A relationship between things where one is the result of the other

consume¹¹ – v. to eat or drink something

various – adj. used to refer to several different or many different things

1 findings   

n.发现物( finding的名词复数 )；调查（或研究）的结果；（陪审团的）裁决

参考例句：

• It behoves us to study these findings carefully. 我们理应认真研究这些发现。
• Their findings have been widely disseminated . 他们的研究成果已经广为传播。

2 obesity   

n.肥胖，肥大

参考例句：

• One effect of overeating may be obesity.吃得过多能导致肥胖。
• Sugar and fat can more easily lead to obesity than some other foods.糖和脂肪比其他食物更容易导致肥胖。

3 journal   

n.日志，日记；议事录；日记帐；杂志，定期刊物

参考例句：

• He kept a journal during his visit to Japan.他在访问日本期间坚持记日记。
• He got a job as editor of a trade journal.他找到了一份当商业杂志编辑的工作。

4 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

5 colon   

n.冒号，结肠，直肠

参考例句：

• Here,too,the colon must be followed by a dash.这里也是一样，应当在冒号后加破折号。
• The colon is the locus of a large concentration of bacteria.结肠是大浓度的细菌所在地。

6 overall   

n.工作服，工装裤；全面的，全体的

参考例句：

• The shop assistant was wearing a white overall.那店员穿着白色的工作服。
• How much will it cost overall?一共多少钱？

7 intake   

n.吸入，纳入；进气口，入口

参考例句：

• Reduce your salt intake.减少盐的摄入量。
• There was a horrified intake of breath from every child.所有的孩子都害怕地倒抽了一口凉气。

8 excess   

n.过量，过度；超越；adj.过量的，附加的

参考例句：

• He advised his son never to spend in excess of his income.他劝儿子开支不可超过收入。
• You're too fat;try and run off all those excess pounds.你太胖了，要跑跑步减肥。

9 consumption   

n.消费，消耗，消费额，消耗量，结核病

参考例句：

• Consumption of oil has declined in recent years.石油消耗量在最近几年下降了。
• The meat was condemned as unfit for human consumption.这种肉已被宣布不适宜人们食用。

10 outcomes   

结果( outcome的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The two scenarios provide illustrations of consistent set of outcomes for range of possible policies. 这两个方案说明某一套可能采取的政策将会产生的一系列后果。
• We analyzed all the possible outcomes of your mission, Commander. 我们分析过所有可能的结果，指挥官。

11 consume   

vt.花费，消费；毁灭；vi.消费掉；枯萎

参考例句：

• They generally consume more power and take up more space,too.它们通常消耗更多的能量，并且占用更多的空间。
• The British consume a vast amount of tea each year.英国人每年消费大量的茶叶。