(FeaturedNews.com) – A group of international researchers led by Massachusetts’ Bringham and Women’s Hospital have found that women who consume sugar-sweetened beverages daily have an increased risk of developing chronic liver disease and liver cancer.
The study was published in JAMA Network Open and it had included close to 100,000 postmenopausal women. The Women’s Health Initiative study participants were called to report how frequently they consumed fruit drinks, soft drinks, and any other beverage that contained artificial sweetener. They were then monitored for more than 20 years.
During that time, researchers looked at the self-reported cases of liver cancer as well as deaths caused by chronic liver disease, including cirrhosis, chronic hepatitis, and fibrosis. This information was also verified by the National Death Index or medical records.
Following the final analysis of the gathered data, it was discovered that those women that consumed at least one sugar-sweetened beverage each day were 85 percent more likely to develop liver cancer, while also having a 68 percent higher risk of chronic liver disease mortality when compared to those whose consumption fell to under three sugar-sweetened beverages each month.
The authors of the study pointed out that this was a completely observational study and that it does not infer causality, especially as all responses were self-reported. Researchers argued that further studies are necessary to determine the exact risk associated with the consumption of sugary drinks. They further noted that additional research was needed to see the effect that other factors such as genetics had on this.
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