Fizzy drink cancer claim

Carbonated drinks may raise the risk of esophageal cancer, a usually fatal disease claim researchers.

Several studies presented at a recent meeting of cancer and gastrointestinal experts in New Orleans showed that what people eat and drink could affect a range of cancers. "This research supports the widespread medical recommendations for healthy eating," said Dr Lee Kaplan of Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston.

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. Team members studied US Department of Agriculture data to find that per capita consumption of carbonated drinks rose by more than 450%, from 49 litres on average in 1946 to 224 litres in 2000. And over the past 25 years, the incidence rates of esophageal cancer have risen by more than 570% in white American men. Esophageal cancer affected 13,900 US men and women in 2003 - more than 10,000 - and killed almost all of them, according to the American Cancer Society. The number of esophageal cancer cases clearly followed the rise in intake of carbonated soft drinks, the researchers found.