Carbonated drinks are displayed on a shelf at a grocery store. Following research suggesting that sugar-sweetened beverages may raise the risk of colorectal and breast cancers, a new study finds they may also be linked to higher rates of stomach cancer. [Getty Images]
Carbonated drinks are displayed on a shelf at a grocery store. Following research suggesting that sugar-sweetened beverages may raise the risk of colorectal and breast cancers, a new study finds they may also be linked to higher rates of stomach cancer. [Getty Images]

Drinking one or more sugar-sweetened beverages a day may significantly raise the risk of developing stomach cancer, according to new research — though drinks made with sugar substitutes showed no such association, the researchers said.

A long-term prospective cohort study by Mass General Brigham, a nonprofit academic medical network in the United States, analyzed data from more than 100,000 people and found that consuming at least one sugary drink per day was associated with a 2.45 times higher risk of stomach cancer compared with those who drank less than one such beverage per month.

Sugary drinks have already been linked in other studies to higher rates of liver, breast and colorectal cancers. The researchers said the specific effects on stomach tissue had remained unclear until now.

The team identified fructose — a component of sugar — as the likely driver of the elevated stomach cancer risk. When digestive enzymes break down sugar in the body, it splits into glucose and fructose, and the researchers said the fructose produced in that process appears to be associated with the increased risk. The study defined sugar-sweetened beverages as commonly consumed drinks including regular sodas, fruit punch, lemonade and sports drinks.

Beverages that use sugar substitutes — including diet sodas, low-calorie carbonated drinks and reduced-sugar drinks — were not associated with an increased stomach cancer risk, the researchers concluded.

Andrew T. Chan, a gastroenterologist at the Mass General Brigham Cancer Center and the study's senior author, told Fox News that gastrointestinal cancers are on the rise, particularly among people under 50, and that increased consumption of sugary drinks and ultra-processed foods "is likely contributing to some of these cancer trends."

The study is observational, meaning it can identify associations but not direct causal relationships. Chan said, "What we saw was an association," and added that "more research needs to be done to understand whether this association between sugar-sweetened beverages and stomach cancer is truly causal."


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