A young boy with a drink in a glass (Image: Getty)
According to a new study, young individuals who consume just two glasses of fizzy drinks each day could be over twice as likely to develop bowel cancer before the age of 50. The research suggests that having one small can or eight fluid ounces daily can up the risk by 16 percent, and this jumps to 33 percent during adolescence.
This includes all kinds of carbonated drinks – from soda pop to sports beverages.
This concerning finding may be contributing to an alarming increase in early-onset colorectal cancer rates – a type of cancer that is the second most lethal kind in Britain. It’s worth noting that the average Briton consumes nearly a can of fizzy drink every single day.
In response to these findings, lead author Dr. Yin Cao has called for focussed initiatives to curb such consumption among young people, stating: “It may serve as a potential strategy to alleviate the growing burden.”
Interestingly, the study found substituting sugary fizz with artificially sweetened drinks, coffee, or semi-skimmed or whole milk cut the risk by between 17 and 36 percent. This discovery stems from tracking the dietary habits of 95,464 female nurses based in the United States who were aged between 25 and 42, reports Wales Online.
Throughout a period of almost 24 years beginning in 1991, these women would report on their food and beverage consumption using validated questionnaires every four years. Additionally, 41,272 participants also noted down what they consumed between the ages of 13 and 18.
Unsurprisingly, during the study, 109 participants had been diagnosed with bowel cancer before turning 50. The researchers found that their higher rates were directly appreciable with their regular fizzy drink intake.
Researchers on the study took into account additional factors such as health conditions, lifestyle activities and body mass index (BMI) of their teenage subjects. The research also factored in the use of aspirin, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) or vitamin supplements and family history of the disease.
Dr Cao from the University of Washington in St Louis said: “These drinks have steadily risen in popularity – particularly among teens and young adults.”
The study, which was published in Gut magazine, is pioneering in its connection between sugary beverages and an increased risk of bowel cancer in adulthood. Over the past twenty years, numbers of early-onset colorectal cancer cases have surged but the cause remains unknown.
The international team further populated the idea there are “biologically plausible explanations” supporting the results derived from the study. As sugary drinks often suppress the feelings of fullness, over-consumation can subsequently lead to weight gain.
Various experiments found simple sugar-filled drinks trigger swift increases in blood glucose and insulin secretion which can pave way to inflammation, obesity and type 2 diabetes. Additionally, burgeoning research suggests ingredients like glucose and high fructose corn syrup usually present in fizzy drinks may stimulate intestinal tumour growth.
In recent studies, it has been proven that these types of drinks weaken the gut barrier, enabling an environment for tumours to flourish. Starkly, in the United States, people aged in their twenties and thirties face a perilously higher risk of bowel cancer, four times greater than those born around 1950.
Sickeningly, the primary source of added sugars in the American diet stems from fizzy drinks which makeup an alarming 39 percent. And shockingly, 12% of the population drink more than three 8 fl oz servings daily.
Dr Cao has revealed: “A recent study demonstrated high-fructose corn syrup treated mice had substantial colon tumour growth with aggressive grade. This was independent of obesity and metabolic syndrome – which lends additional support to the link between sugar-sweetened beverages and colorectal cancer risk.”
Corn syrup, a combination of glucose and fructose, is often used as a sweetener in American beverages, while in the UK cane sugar is typically used, possessing similar proportions of glucose and fructose.
Notably, excessive consumption has already been associated with increased risks of obesity and type 2 diabetes. Dr Cao elaborated: “Considering the well-established, adverse health consequences and the highest consumption being characterised in adolescents and young adults under age 50 years, our findings reinforce the public health importance of limiting intake for better outcomes.”
However, the research mostly involved white females, thus the results may not apply to men or other ethnic and racial groups, she noted. Bowel cancer stands as the fourth most prevalent cancer in the UK and claims over 16,000 lives annually.