Here's a piece of news that will bolster Michael Bloomberg's campaign against sugary drink - recent research suggests that sugary beverages increase the risk of endometrial cancer in women.
Researchers found women who drank more sugar-sweetened beverages stood the higher risk of developing cancer of the endometrium, which is the lining of the uterus.
"Although ours is the first study to show this relationship, it is not surprising to see that women who drank more sugar-sweetened beverages had a higher risk of estrogen-dependent type I endometrial cancer but not estrogen-independent type II endometrial cancer," said Maki Inoue-Choi, study author and research associate in the Division of Epidemiology and Community Health of the University of Minnesota School of Public Health in Minneapolis. "Other studies have shown increasing consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages has paralleled the increase in obesity. Obese women tend to have higher levels of estrogens and insulin than women of normal weight. Increased levels of estrogens and insulin are established risk factors for endometrial cancer."
The research also indicates that women who consumed around 60 servings of sugary drinks a week had 78 percent increased risk for the cancer, when compared with women who did not drink sugar-sweetened beverages.
Scientists say that endometrial cancer is supposed to be the fourth most common cancer in women. In the U.S., endometrial cancer is the eighth most common cause of cancer death among women. According to the National Institute of Health, around 49,560 women are diagnosed with endometrial cancer and about 8,190 women are expected to die of the disease in 2013.
The recent research did find that consuming sugary drink may be one of the causes of endometrial cancer and it is possible that an increased intake of sugar-sweetened drinks also causes obesity, which in turn increases the cancer risk.
According to previous and recent findings, older women who have higher body mass indexes or diabetes and who had used estrogen were also at higher risk for endometrial cancer.
The recent research did not find any co-relation between consuming sugar-free drinks or sweet foods and cancer risk. However, it is possible that the way sugar is consumed either added to drinks or when digested with fibers, affects its metabolism and absorption in the human body.
