Graehm Gray: Soda, Childhood Obesity and Pancreatic Cancer
I am sure that by now most of you have seen the recent articles implicating soft drinks and juice and pancreatic cancer. We already know that our children are drinking more sodas and the rates of childhood obesity are sky rocketing-relationship-I think so!! Now, researchers are confirming prior studies demonstrating a relationship with soda and cancer. Actually, the most recent study was just published in the February 2010 issue of Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention: “Soft Drink and Juice Consumption and Risk of Pancreatic Cancer: The Singapore Chinese Health Study” with lead author Noel T. Mueller (Cancer Control Program, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, District of Columbia). 60,524 people in the Singapore Chinese Health Study were enrolled and followed for 14 years. Those participants that drank 2 or more drinks (sweetened soda) per week had a statistically significant greater risk of developing pancreatic cancer compared with those people in the study that did not drink the sodas. There was no association with those people in the study that drank juice. The conclusion by the authors was: “Regular consumption of soft drinks may play an independent role in the development of pancreatic cancer.” SIDE BAR: What is the pancreas: it is an organ in the body that hangs out behind the stomach and its job is to produce hormones (think of them as tiny messengers) like INSULIN that are released in response ...
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