Sodas Raise Cancer Risk, U.S. Study Finds

Carbonated drinks may raise the risk of esophageal cancer, a usually fatal disease, researchers reported on Monday.

Team members studied U.S. Department of Agriculture data to find that per capita consumption of carbonated drinks rose by more than 450 percent, from 10.8 gallons on average in 1946 to 49.2 gallons in 2000.

And over the past 25 years, the incidence rates of esophageal cancer have risen by more than 570 percent in white American men. Esophageal cancer affected 13,900 U.S. men and women in 2003 -- more than 10,000 men -- and killed almost all of them, according to the American Cancer Society.

The number of esophageal cancer cases clearly followed the rise in intake of carbonated soft drinks, the researchers found.

That could be coincidence, but they also found research that showed a possible biological basis for the effect. Carbonated soft drinks cause the stomach to distend, which in turn causes the gastric reflux associated with esophageal cancer.

The researchers found similar trends worldwide. Countries with per capita annual consumption of more than 20 gallons of fizzy soft drinks also had rising rates of esophageal cancer.

"The surprisingly strong correlation demonstrates the impact of diet patterns on health trends," Dr. Mohandas Mallath, who led the study, said in a statement.

Comment: What would the giant soft-drinks producing corporations would do countering this scientific claim? Another studies that would show soda drinking does not cause cancer? It would be like the cigarette industries with their paid "scientists" producing "evidence" that smoking is not as detrimental to health as claimed by most "unpaid" scientists.

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