All Eaten Up
11

What do Coke and milk have in common?

It may be known as one of the world's most famous drinks - the one with such power that it helped shape the image of Santa Clause from being a skinny, short man, into the kind, chubby, red suited jolly guy who comes down the chimney top.


For me, it's the drink can clean stains off carpets. It's good for cleaning the toilet, too.

But now, Coca-Cola has now been put in a category of drinks that boost pancreatic cancer risk.

A recent study was conducted on over 60,000 people over 14 years and it found that people who consume more than one soft drink a week nearly doubled their risk of developing pancreatic cancer.

The results showed that people who drank two or more soft drinks were 87 per cent more likely to develop pancreatic cancer.

Luckily for those who like drinking fruit juices, researchers could not find a link between juices and pancreatic cancer.

Mark Pereira, the lead researcher of the University of Minnesota said the high sugar levels in soft drinks were to blame.

"The high levels of sugar in soft drinks may be increasing the level of insulin in the body, which we think contributes to pancreatic cancer cell growth," Pereira said.

According to the American Cancer Society, pancreatic cancer is considered to be one of the most deadliest forms of cancer, with statistics showing that about two out of 10 of people with pancreatic cancer live at least one year after their cancer is found. Fewer than four per cent will be alive after 5 years.

Adding to the list of drinks that may actually be detrimental to your health is milk.

In a study conducted in 2004, it was found that women who drank more than two glasses of milk a day, significantly increased the risk of getting the most severe form of ovarian cancer.

Yes, milk - the drink we were encouraged to drink in large amounts to encourage stronger bones.

The researchers followed over 60,000 women aged 38 to 76 for 13 years.

During this time a total of 266 women were diagnosed with ovarian cancer, of whom 125 had serous ovarian cancer.

Not good results for something that is supposed to be good for you if you ask me, but it seems like everything seems to be bad for us: coffee, sugar, wine... The list goes on and on.

I wonder what they'll come up with next?

Post Rating

Comments

Stacey Hancock
Thursday, 11 February 2010 11:25 AM
Hi, do you have a reference to the milk research at all?
sick of scaremongering
# sick of scaremongering
Thursday, 11 February 2010 11:38 AM
This kind of journalism is sensationalist, damaging, and irresponsible and shows a complete lack of understanding of scientific studies and they way they are reported. These kinds of studies do not indicate causal relationsips - i.e. drinking soda/milk gives you cancer - they suggest potential risks. People who drink large amounts of soda generally have other risk factors such as smoking and lack of exercise so they are overweight and already at increased risk for many types of cancers.

And just because the researchers found no link between fruit juice and cancer, doesn't give you freedom to drink as much fruit juice as you want. A glass of fresh orange juice or orange drink has as much sugar as a glass of coke. HFCS, sucrose, fructose, it's all the same in the end.
Cassandra
# Cassandra
Thursday, 11 February 2010 1:09 PM
If you read the article correctly, it says it increases the risk not that you will get cancer just because you drink... its the same with ciggies... they say smoking increases the risk of getting lung cancer but it doesn't mean you will get it... good article Elizabeth
Elizabeth
# Elizabeth
Thursday, 11 February 2010 4:48 PM
Hi Stacey, it was in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition however you can read a wrap up of the results off the BBC News website on: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4051331.stm

Post Comment

Name (required)

Email (required)

Website

Enter the code shown above in the box below

Categories
Search