Drinking two or more sugary drinks a day may be associated with increased risk of obesity-linked cancers and death, a study by the American Cancer Society found.
Researchers followed nearly one million Americans over 30 years. In that time, more than 135,000 participants died from cancer. Those who regularly consumed sugary drinks had a five percent increased risk of dying from obesity-related cancer compared to those who did not consume sugary drinks.
Drinking two or more sugary drinks a day leads to a nine percent increased risk of dying from colorectal cancer and a 17 percent increased risk of dying from kidney cancer, the study published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, said.
"This study provides more evidence to support recommendations to cut back on sugary drinks," the study's author, Marji McCullough, senior scientific director of epidemiology research at the American Cancer Society in Atlanta, told Today. "When we put BMI into the model, the 5 percent increase was no longer statistically significant, suggesting, at least in part, that this finding is mediated by excess body weight."