For generations, the sweetened drink has been a fixture of daily American life — unremarkable, ubiquitous, and largely unconsidered. Now, a landmark study following more than 112,000 people across 36 years has found that those who consume at least one sugary beverage daily face a risk of stomach cancer 2.45 times greater than those who abstain, marking the first time this association has been documented in an American population. The finding does not yet prove causation, but it places one of humanity's most ordinary habits inside a much larger and more sobering story about what we choose to co
Daily Sugar-Sweetened Beverages Linked to 2.45x Higher Stomach Cancer Risk
Gastric cancer is the fifth leading cause of cancer death worldwide; sugary beverages linked to over 180,000 deaths annually globally.
A habit that feels harmless may carry hidden costs
Mark
Why does this study matter if it can't prove that sugary drinks actually cause stomach cancer?
Mimi
Because it's the first time anyone has shown this connection exists in Americans at all. That's the starting point. Once you know there's a pattern, you can investigate why. Right now, we're in the dark about stomach cancer and diet in general.
Mark
Two-point-four-five times sounds dramatic. But how many people are we actually talking about?
Mimi
Out of 112,000 people over 36 years, there were 278 cases of stomach cancer. It's rare. But the people drinking sugary drinks daily were much more likely to be among those 278. The absolute numbers are small, but the relative risk is real.
Mark
Why did women face triple the risk while men faced double?
Mimi
That's a good question the researchers don't fully answer. It could be biological—hormonal differences, how their bodies metabolize sugar differently. Or it could be something about the data itself, some other factor they didn't account for. It's a signal worth investigating.
Mark
The study mentions artificial sweeteners weren't linked to stomach cancer. Doesn't that suggest sugar itself is the culprit?
Mimi
It suggests sugar might be, yes. But it doesn't prove it. There could be something else in regular sugary drinks—the acidity, certain additives, how they affect the stomach lining. The mechanism is still a mystery.
Mark
If someone drinks one soda a day, should they be afraid?
Mimi
Not afraid. But aware. The risk is real and measurable. Whether it's worth changing your habits depends on how you weigh that risk against the pleasure or convenience of the drink. The science is saying: this matters more than we thought.
El Pulso
- A habit practiced by two-thirds of American adults every day — reaching for a soda, a sports drink, a glass of punch — has now been statistically linked to a 2.45-fold increase in stomach cancer risk.
- Women face the sharpest exposure: daily sugary drink consumption is associated with roughly triple the gastric cancer risk compared to women who never drink them, while men face approximately double.
- The study is the first of its kind in the United States, drawing on 36 years of data and 112,000+ participants, yet it arrives with significant gaps — incomplete data on H. pylori infection and family histories leave the full picture unresolved.
- Researchers cannot yet explain the biological pathway — weight gain, inflammation, DNA damage, and gut microbiome disruption are all proposed, but none confirmed — leaving causation unproven and the mechanism a pressing open question.
- Gastric cancer already ranks as the fifth leading cause of cancer death worldwide, and sugary beverages are tied to over 180,000 deaths annually from all causes — making the urgency of follow-up research difficult to overstate.
For generations, the sweetened drink has been a fixture of daily American life — unremarkable, ubiquitous, and largely unconsidered. Now, a landmark study following more than 112,000 people across 36 years has found that those who consume at least one sugary beverage daily face a risk of stomach cancer 2.45 times greater than those who abstain, marking the first time this association has been documented in an American population. The finding does not yet prove causation, but it places one of humanity's most ordinary habits inside a much larger and more sobering story about what we choose to consume — and what those choices may quietly cost us.
About two-thirds of American adults consume a sugar-sweetened beverage every single day — a soda at lunch, a sports drink after school, a glass of punch at dinner. It is a habit so ordinary it barely registers. But new research suggests this daily ritual may carry consequences far more serious than most people have imagined.
Scientists analyzing data from more than 112,000 participants followed for 36 years found that those who drink at least one sugary beverage daily face a risk of stomach cancer 2.45 times higher than those who never drink them. Published in Gastro Hep Advances, it is the first study to document this association in an American population. "Gastric cancer is the fifth leading cause of cancer death worldwide," said Andrew T. Chan of Massachusetts General Hospital, who led the research, "but we've known very little about how diet might contribute to this cancer."
The data came from the Nurses' Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study, in which participants reported their diets and health outcomes every two years from 1986 to 2022. Of the 112,284 participants, 278 developed gastric cancer — and the pattern, once other risk factors were accounted for, was clear. Women who drank sugary beverages daily faced roughly triple the risk of their abstaining peers; men faced roughly double.
This is not the first time these drinks have been implicated in cancer — prior research has connected them to breast, liver, and colorectal cancers — but the stomach cancer link had remained elusive until now. Sugary beverages are already associated with more than 180,000 deaths annually worldwide and drive rising rates of diabetes and obesity.
The study cannot prove causation. Researchers lacked complete data on Helicobacter pylori infection, a known gastric cancer risk factor, and full family histories for some participants. Notably, artificially sweetened beverages showed no association with gastric cancer. The biological mechanism — whether through weight gain, inflammation, insulin resistance, DNA damage, or shifts in the gut microbiome — remains unproven and uninvestigated. What the evidence does suggest, unmistakably, is that a habit long treated as harmless may be carrying a hidden cost.
About two-thirds of American adults reach for a sugar-sweetened beverage every single day. Most children do the same. It's a habit so ordinary it barely registers—a can of soda with lunch, a sports drink after school, a glass of punch at dinner. But new research suggests this daily choice may carry a consequence far more serious than anyone expected.
Scientists analyzing data from over 112,000 people followed for decades have found that those who consume at least one sugary drink daily face a risk of stomach cancer 2.45 times higher than people who never drink them. The finding, published in Gastro Hep Advances, marks the first time researchers have documented this association in an American population. "Gastric cancer is the fifth leading cause of cancer death worldwide," says Andrew T. Chan, a gastroenterologist at Massachusetts General Hospital who led the analysis, "but we've known very little about how diet might contribute to this cancer."
The research drew from two long-running studies: the Nurses' Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study. Between 1986 and 2022, participants filled out detailed questionnaires every two years, reporting what they ate and drank—including carbonated beverages, punch, lemonade, and sports drinks—along with information about their lifestyles, medical histories, and health outcomes. Over those 36 years, 278 cases of gastric cancer emerged among the 112,284 participants. When researchers accounted for other risk factors, the pattern was unmistakable: daily consumption of sugary drinks correlated with substantially elevated cancer risk.
The effect was not uniform across sexes. Women who drank at least one sugary beverage daily had roughly three times the risk of developing gastric cancer compared with women who avoided them entirely. Men faced roughly double the risk. Both figures represent a significant elevation in disease probability from a single dietary habit.
This is not the first time sugar-sweetened beverages have been implicated in cancer. Previous research has linked them to breast cancer, liver cancer, and colorectal cancer, among others. The broader health toll is staggering: these drinks are associated with more than 180,000 deaths annually worldwide and contribute to rising rates of type 2 diabetes and obesity. Yet the stomach cancer connection had remained elusive until now, possibly because earlier studies lacked sufficient data to detect the pattern.
It's important to note what this study cannot prove. Observational research reveals correlations—patterns in the data—but cannot establish causation. Other factors may have contributed to the cancer cases observed. The researchers acknowledge significant limitations: they had incomplete information about Helicobacter pylori, a bacterium known to increase gastric cancer risk, and lacked full health and family histories for some participants. The study also found no association between artificially sweetened beverages and gastric cancer, despite widespread public concern about artificial sweeteners.
How sugary drinks might trigger stomach cancer remains unknown. The researchers propose several possibilities—weight gain, insulin resistance, hormonal imbalance, inflammation, DNA damage, and changes to the gut microbiome—but none have been proven. "The precise mechanism of carcinogenic effects of sugar-sweetened beverages has yet to be investigated," they write. Future studies will need to explore these biological pathways and confirm whether the correlation they observed reflects a true causal relationship. Until then, the evidence points in one direction: a habit that feels harmless may carry hidden costs.
Citas Notables
This is the first study to demonstrate an association between sugar-sweetened beverage intake and gastric cancer in a US population.— Andrew T. Chan, gastroenterologist, Massachusetts General Hospital
The precise mechanism of carcinogenic effects of sugar-sweetened beverages has yet to be investigated.— Study authors
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