Drinking one sweet drink a day can drastically increase the risk of liver cancer, a new study has revealed.
Researchers at South Carolina University found that drinking just one sugar-sweetened drink like tea or coffee can raise your chances by 78%.
The study examined 90,000 postmenopausal women, with seven per cent drinking one or more 12oz servings of sweetened beverages a day.
This group were 78% more likely to develop liver cancer, reports Birmingham Live.
There is no evidence to suggest that drinking unsweetened tea or coffee can increase risks of liver cancer.
The findings were shared at Nutrition 2022, the annual meeting of the American Society for Nutrition.
"Our findings suggest sugar-sweetened beverage consumption is a potential modifiable risk factor for liver cancer" said lead author Longgang Zhao.
The doctoral candidate continued: "If our findings are confirmed, reducing sugar-sweetened beverage consumption might serve as a public health strategy to reduce liver cancer burden.
"Replacing sugar-sweetened beverages with water, and non-sugar-sweetened coffee or tea could significantly lower liver cancer risk."
Liver cancer symptoms
According to the NHS, signs of liver cancer can be hard to spot.
Symptoms of liver cancer can include:
- Your skin or the whites of your eyes turn yellow (jaundice), you may also have itchy skin, darker pee and paler poo than usual
- Loss of appetite or losing weight without trying to
- Feeling tired or having no energy
- Feeling generally unwell or having symptoms like flu
- A lump in the right side of your tummy
Other symptoms can affect your digestion, such as:
- Feeling or being sick
- Pain at the top right side of your tummy or in your right shoulder
- Symptoms of indigestion, such as feeling full very quickly when eating
- A very swollen tummy that is not related to when you eat
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