New Delhi, August 9: A recent study conducted in the United States has unveiled a concerning link between the daily consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages by women and a heightened susceptibility to liver cancer and chronic liver disease mortality.
The research, an observational study helmed by scientists from Brigham and Women’s Hospital in the US, involved 98,786 postmenopausal women who were participants in the prospective Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) study. The WHI study focuses on strategies for averting heart disease, breast and colorectal cancer, as well as osteoporosis in postmenopausal women.
Within this cohort, the study highlighted that 6.8 percent of women who consumed one or more sugar-sweetened beverages on a daily basis exhibited an 85 percent elevated risk of liver cancer and a 68 percent heightened risk of mortality linked to chronic liver disease. These results were drawn from observations over a span of more than two decades.
In comparison, the study contrasted this data against individuals who consumed fewer than three sugar-sweetened beverages monthly.
Longgang Zhao, the lead author of the study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Network Open, remarked, “To our knowledge, this is the first study to report an association between sugar-sweetened beverage intake and chronic liver disease mortality. Our findings, if confirmed, may pave the way for a public health strategy to reduce the risk of liver disease based on data from a large and geographically diverse cohort.”
The participants reported their regular intake of soft drinks and non-fruit-based drinks (excluding fruit juices), and later recorded their consumption of artificially sweetened beverages after three years. The study followed these individuals for a median period surpassing two decades.
Examining self-reported instances of liver cancer and deaths resulting from chronic liver ailments such as fibrosis, cirrhosis, or chronic hepatitis, the researchers corroborated their findings with medical and death records.
However, the scientists were cautious in interpreting causality due to the study’s observational nature, which relied on self-reported responses. They highlighted the necessity for further studies to authenticate this risk association and ascertain the underlying reasons for the apparent escalation in the risk of liver cancer and disease due to the consumption of sugary drinks.
