Researchers Find Link Between Consuming Sugary Drinks and Colon Cancer

Any time researchers from various regions of the world can spread awareness of the devastating incidences and contributors towards colorectal cancer, the public must pay attention to prevent the aggressive form of cancer. When there are novel ways that expand our understanding of the prevention of certain cancers, the world becomes that much brighter.

The latest research from one university's cancer center posits that a link exists between sugary drinks and colorectal cancer.

If you are a big enjoyer of sodas, processed juices, and other forms of sugary drinks, you will definitely want to pay attention to this story. Below, we explain the latest research that connects the consumption of sugary drinks with the incidence of colorectal cancer, as well as other chronic conditions.

Continue reading to learn more about this crucially important research.

According to a report in Newsweek, researchers from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center discovered a link between the consumption of sugary drinks and obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and the spread of advanced colorectal cancer.

A glucose and fructose mix that is present in sugary drinks, per the report, "directly contributes to metastasis in preclinical models of the cancer."

According to MD Anderson Cancer Center Assistant Professor of Genetics Jihye Yun, "To fully understand the danger of sugary drinks, we needed to see whether they can make existing cancers more aggressive and spread faster, not just whether they increase the risk of getting cancer in the first place. Importantly, cancers at early and late stages are not the same — they differ in their gene mutations, metabolism, and overall biology."

According to the News Release on the MD Anderson Cancer Center website, drinking fewer sugary drinks could support the slowing of cancer progression in patients diagnosed with colorectal cancer.

"Only the sugar mix made cancer cells more mobile, leading to faster spread to the liver — the most common site of colorectal cancer metastasis," according to the News Release.

The sugar mix that the researchers studied activated the enzyme sorbitol dehydrogenase (SORD), which eventually fuels metastasis.

“Our findings highlight that daily diet matters not only for cancer risk but also for how the disease progresses once it has developed,” Yun said in the News Release. “While these findings need further investigation, they suggest that reducing sugary drinks, targeting SORD, or repurposing statins may benefit patients with colorectal cancer.”

Dr. Yun's previous work highlighted that even a medium amount of consumption of sugary drinks led to tumor growth in early-stage colorectal cancer. The results of Dr. Yun's breadth of work provide medical researchers with a pathway forward to a better understanding of colorectal cancer metastasis.

"We showed that cutting out sugary drinks slowed down the spread of colorectal cancer in our preclinical models, even after tumors had already formed. This suggests that dietary changes could still make a difference at later stages of disease," Dr. Yun said, per Newsweek.