By David Liu PHD

Sunday July 8, 2012 (foodconsumer.org) -- Pancreatic cancer is lethal.  The risk for the deadly malignancy may be increased by drinking sugar-sweetened beverages, according to a new study in the Nov 2011 issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.

The study led by Jeanine M. Genjinger of Mailma School of Public Health  in New York, NY and colleagues found men and women drinking greater than 8 or 9 oz  of sugar-sweetened beverages per day were 19 percent more likely to be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, compared to those who did not drink any.

The study was based on data from 14 prospective cohort studies of 2,185 incident pancreatic cancer cases identified among 853,894 men and women.

A 10 percent increased risk for pancreatic cancer was also found for drinking 30 oz of coffee per day, compared to drinking no coffee.  But the association was deemed insignificant.

Drinking tea was not associated with risk of pancreatic cancer.

The researchers concluded "Although we were only able to examine modest intake of SSB (sugar-sweetened beverages), there was a suggestive, modest positive association for risk of pancreatic cancer for intakes of SSB."

Sugar that is commonly used in sugar-sweetened beverages is high fructose corn syrup or HFCS, which is now called by the industry corn sugar.  Fructose has been found associated with a range of health conditions including obesity, heart disease, diabetes, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, and metabolic syndrome.

A similar meta analysis led by D. Aune of Imperial College London and colleagues resulted in a similar conclusion.

Dr. Aune's study suggests that the total carbohydrates did not affect the risk of pancreatic cancer.  Even intake of 25 grams of sucrose per day did not seem to affect the risk.  

However, they found eating 25 grams of fructose per day was associated with a 22 percent increased risk of pancreatic cancer.

The average American consumed about 37.8 lb (17.1 kg) of HFCS in 2008, and 46.7 lb (21.2 kg) of sucrose, according to wikipedia.  High fructose corn syrup contains about 50% frucrtose.  Sucrose releases exactly 50% fructose.