Soft Drink Consumption Linked to Pancreatic Cancer
posted in - Medical Updates, - Palmdoc |A recent population study on Singaporeans suggests an association with soft drink consumption and pancreatic consumption. The data is from the Singapore Chinese Health Study (study size 60,524, over 14 years) which looked at the consumption of soft drinks, juice, other dietary items, lifestyle factors and environmental exposures, collected at recruitment to the study. Medscape reports:
At 14 years and a cumulative 648,387 person-years of follow-up, 140 incident pancreatic cancers developed in people who were cancer free at baseline. After adjustment for confounders such as BMI, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and fruit juice intake, the authors found that those consuming 2 or more soft drinks per week experienced a statistically significant increased risk for pancreatic cancer (hazard ratio [HR], 1.87; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.10 – 3.15).
Although people who consumed 2 or more juice drinks a week had an increased risk for pancreatic cancer of approximately 30%, elevated HR was not statistically significant after adjustment for variables.
However, in an age-adjusted analysis, smoking was also a risk factor. After excluding former smokers, the authors found that current smokers had a 49% increased risk for pancreatic cancer, compared with never smokers (HR, 1.49; 95% CI, 0.98 – 2.27). This risk factor remained unaffected after adjustment for diabetes and BMI.
A word of caution is that studies like these can only determine statistical association, which is not quite the same as cause and effect. However it does make sense to curb smoking and the consumption of excessive sugary drinks like soft drinks. Diet coke anyone?
Last 5 posts by Palmdoc
- Doctors gone wild again - September 1st, 2010
- Tools of the trade XIX - September 1st, 2010
- Feedback: Housemanship - August 31st, 2010
- Merdeka!! - August 31st, 2010
- The things lawyers say - August 18th, 2010
