The Study
Association of soft drinks and 100% fruit juice consumption with risk of cancer: a systematic review and dose–response meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies
This study looks at many previous studies that followed people over time to see if drinking sugary drinks or juice is linked to getting cancer. It can show there might be a connection, but it can't prove the drinks actually cause cancer because other factors could be involved.
Analysis score
Maximum 100 for a systematic review with meta-analysis.
Where the score came from
A big study looked at how drinking sugary drinks, diet drinks, and fruit juice affects cancer chances.
Where does this study sit?
Reviews of RCTs (Meta-analyses)
Max 100Randomized Trials
Max 90Reviews of Cohort Studies
Max 85Cohort Studies
Max 72Reviews of Case-Control Studies
Max 63Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional & Case Series
Max 50Expert Opinion
Max 539 / 100
Quality score
The highest quality evidence. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses that pool randomized controlled trials, giving the most reliable summary of experimental evidence.
Key takeaways
Summary
Based on the study abstract and findings.
- 1The actual increase in cancer cases is very small for most people.
- 2Drinking an extra cup a day: sugary drinks linked to 17% more breast cancer, diet drinks to 16% more leukemia, juice to 31% more cancer overall.
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
The International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity
Year
2023
Authors
Bei Pan, H. Lai, Ning Ma, Danxiu Li, Xiyuan Deng, Xiaoman Wang, Qian Zhang, Qiuyu Yang, Qi Wang, Hongfei Zhu, Mengting Li, Xiao Cao, Jinhui Tian, L. Ge, Kehu Yang
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Claims (6)
Drinking sugary drinks quickly puts a lot of sugar into your blood, which can create conditions in your body that might help cancer grow because these drinks don't have fiber, don't make you feel full, and get absorbed really fast.
Drinking more diet sodas each day might slightly raise the chance of getting leukemia, but it's a very small increase—just one extra person out of a thousand—and it doesn't seem to affect other cancers.
Drinking more sugary drinks each day might slightly raise your chances of getting certain cancers, but the increase is small and other factors could be involved.
Drinking an extra cup of fruit juice every day might raise your chances of getting certain cancers, but the evidence isn't super strong and other factors could be involved.
Drinking more sugary drinks, diet drinks, or fruit juice seems to raise the chance of getting certain cancers, but the research isn't very certain yet.
Studies suggest drinking soda might slightly increase cancer risk, but the evidence isn't very strong and the actual number of extra cancer cases would be very small. It's hard to be sure because the studies have limitations.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.