Daily sugary drinks linked to significantly higher liver cancer risk in older women

A twenty-year study of nearly one hundred thousand American women has found a stark connection between daily consumption of sugary drinks and the risk of liver cancer and fatal liver disease. Researchers from Harvard Medical School tracked women aged fifty to seventy-nine and discovered that those who drank at least one sugar-sweetened beverage every day were one point seven-five times more likely to develop liver cancer than women who consumed three or fewer such drinks per month. The risk of dying from chronic liver disease was even steeper: women in the daily-consumption group faced two point five times the mortality risk.

Over the two decades of observation, two hundred seven women in the study developed liver cancer, and one hundred forty-eight died from chronic liver disease. The findings, published in the journal JAMA on Tuesday, add weight to a growing body of evidence about the dangers of sugar-sweetened drinks. These beverages—sodas, energy drinks, fruit juices with added sugar—have long been associated with obesity, diabetes, and various cancers, but this study offers one of the clearest pictures yet of their connection to liver disease specifically in older women.

What makes the finding particularly notable is how modest the trigger appears to be. A single drink per day was enough to move the needle significantly. Yet the study also found something reassuring: women who drank artificially sweetened beverages did not show a comparable increase in liver disease risk, suggesting the problem lies specifically with the sugar content rather than the act of drinking sweetened liquids itself.

The scale of the problem in the broader population is worth noting. About sixty-five percent of American adults consume sugar-sweetened beverages daily, though only seven percent of the women in this particular study did so. Among the study participants, thirteen percent drank artificially sweetened drinks every day. Chronic liver disease ranks as the ninth-leading cause of death in the United States, claiming more than fifty-six thousand lives annually. Each year, approximately eleven thousand American women receive a diagnosis of liver cancer, and nine thousand die from it.

Experts reviewing the research have raised an important caveat: the study demonstrates correlation, not causation. The women were asked about their drinking habits only twice—at the start of the study and again three years in—meaning researchers had no detailed record of how consumption patterns may have shifted over the full twenty-year period. Dr. Pauline Emmett, a senior research fellow at the University of Bristol, told the Science Media Center that the evidence is substantial enough to warrant caution. "We know from a body of evidence that it is worth thinking twice before choosing to drink sugar-sweetened beverages every day," she said.

Recent research has also illuminated the mechanism behind sugar's harm. Another study found that fructose intake—which Americans typically consume through table sugar and high-fructose corn syrup—fuels obesity and conditions including diabetes and fatty liver disease. The connection between sugar consumption and liver damage appears to operate through multiple pathways, making the risk not merely a statistical artifact but rooted in how the body processes these substances.

The timing of these findings arrives as liver disease itself is on the rise in the United States. A recent study linked a surge in alcohol-related liver disease to the COVID-19 pandemic, suggesting that multiple factors are converging to make liver health an increasingly urgent public health concern. For women in their fifties and beyond, the message from this research is clear: the daily sugary drink habit carries consequences that extend far beyond weight gain or blood sugar spikes.