Sugar-sweetened Beverage Consumption And Early Onset Colorectal Cancer.

The Study

Early onset colon cancer is increasing at an alarming rate. In fact, several organizations are now recommending colonoscopy screening starting at age 45 instead of 50. Sugar sweetened beverages were examined in this investigation for a potential association with early onset colon cancer. Over 95,000 women in the Nurses Health Study II were followed for 24 years. Here are some of the results of this important study:

-Women consuming 2 or more servings per day of sugar sweetened beverages had over twice the risk of early colon cancer when compared to women who had less than one serving per week.

-Each serving of a sugar sweetened beverage was associated with a 16% higher risk of early onset colon cancer.

-Replacing each serving per day of a sugar sweetened beverage with a diet soda, coffee or milk was associated with a reduced risk of early colon cancer of between 17 and 36 percent. Gut 2021: doi: 10.1136/gutjnl-2020-323450 

Take Home Message

The take home message here is really simple.  Strictly limit or completely eliminate sugar sweetened beverages.