New Study Says Soda Could Cause Rare Cancers

Well that's just great.

 If you have the habit of downing a soda every day, you might want to think about cutting back. A new study suggests that those who consume the bubbly stuff and other sugary drinks may have a higher risk of developing rare cancers in the gallbladder and liver, Reuters reports.

Researchers who led the study wondered if these highly sugary drinks could play a role in developing cancer because they are already linked to high blood sugar and weight gain. And so the study analyzed data from more than 70,000 adults over 13 years, looking at their eating and drinking habits and whether they were diagnosed with cancer. Of the participants, only about 150 people developed liver or gallbladder cancers. 

 That being said, the results show that people who indulged in two or more soda and juice were more than twice as likely to develop gallbladder tumors—and 79 percent more likely to get liver cancer—than those who avoided sugary drinks altogether. And this applies to both artificially sweetened and sugar-sweetened drinks. Yikes.

"[This study] is the first to show a strong link between consumption of sweetened beverages, such as soda, and risk of biliary tract cancers," lead study author Susanna Larsson of the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, told the wire news service.

In other words, it might be time to kick your Diet Coke habit and switch to seltzer.

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