Carbonated drinks may raise the risk of esophageal cancer, a usually fatal disease, researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School recently reported.
A team at Tata Memorial Hospital in India found a strong correlation between the rise in per capita consumption of carbonated soft drinks in the past 50 years and a documented increase in rates of esophageal cancer in the United States. And over the past 25 years, the incidence of esophageal cancer has risen by more than 570 percent in white American men.
The number of esophageal cancer cases clearly followed the rise in intake of carbonated soft drinks, the researchers found.
Carbonated soft drinks cause the stomach to distend, which in turn causes the gastric reflux associated with esophageal cancer.
The researchers found similar trends worldwide. Countries with per capita annual consumption of more than 20 gallons of soft drinks also had rising rates of esophageal cancer.
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