Does sugary drink consumption raise gastric cancer risk?

Consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages and fruit juices does not seem to contribute to the risk of gastric cancer (GC), according to a prospective cohort study.

To explore the relationship between consumption of sugary drinks (ie, sugar-sweetened beverages and 100-percent fruit juices) and GC risk, the authors identified a total of 74,455 Japanese individuals aged 45‒74 years (39,353 females) who participated in a population-based cohort study (Japan Public Health Center-based Prospective Study).

A food frequency questionnaire was used to assess sugary drinks. To measure the hazard ratios (HRs) and 95 percent confidence intervals (CIs) of GC incidence according to the quintile of sugary drink consumption, the authors used Cox proportional hazard regression.

In total, 2,141 patients with GC cases had been identified during 16.7 years of follow-up. No significant association was observed between consumption of sugary drinks and risk of GC.

In males, the multivariate HRs in the highest vs lowest quintile of sugary drinks were 0.98 (95 percent CI, 0.82‒1.17; p_trend=0.48) for total GC, 0.48 (95 percent CI, 0.23‒0.99; p_trend=0.03) for cardia GC, and 1.03 (95 percent CI, 0.86‒1.24; p_trend=0.88) for noncardia GC.

In females, the corresponding multivariate HRs for total, cardia, and noncardia GC were 1.03 (95 percent CI, 0.79‒1.33; p_trend=0.47), 1.28 (95 percent CI, 0.32‒5.12; p_trend=0.53), and 1.01 (95 percent CI, 0.78‒1.32; p_trend=0.56).

“The results did not change significantly after adjusting for Helicobacter pylori infection and atrophic gastritis status in the subgroup analysis,” the authors noted.