Sour News for Sugar

In a study published in the Nov. 2006 issue of American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, scientists at the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden, found that frequent consumption of sugar and high-sugar foods may increase the risk of pancreatic cancer. Sugar, the researchers propose, induces frequent postprandial hyperglycemia by increasing insulin demand and decreasing insulin sensitivity.

For the study, a food-frequency questionnaire was completed in 1997 by 77, 797 women and men ages 45 to 83 who had no previous diagnosis of cancer or history of diabetes. The participants were followed through June 2005.

At the end of these 7.2 years, researches found 131 incidences of pancreatic cancer. The researchers established a positive link between consumption of added sugar, soft drinks, and sweetened fruit soups or stewed fruit with the risk of pancreatic cancer.

Those who drank fizzy or syrup-based drinks twice a day or more ran a 90% higher risk than those who never drank them. Participants who added sugar to food or drinks, such as coffee, at least five times a day ran a 70% greater risk than those who did not. People who ate creamed fruit (a product resembling runny jam) ran a 50% higher risk than those who never ate creamed fruit.

According to Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore, the leading center for the study and treatment of pancreatic cancer, cancer of the pancreas is the fourth leading cause of cancer death in the United States. The disease is common, with some 32,000 Americans dying each year, and it is also difficult to treat. In the medical community, this form of cancer has been called "the challenge of the 21st century."