Wednesday, January 05, 2005
First painkillers, now pop
[S. Jhoanna Robledo, "Soda drinkers beware?," MSN.com, 5 January 2005.]
A new study attempts to link drinking soda pop with esophageal cancer, but as with the naproxen / stroke link, the evidence is pretty thin:
For years, carbonated soft drinks have gotten a bad rap from dentists who say most of them are sugar-laden and encourage the growth of cavities. Nutritionists have blamed sodas in part for the obesity problem in America, saying they're full of empty calories. Now a team of digestive-disease doctors at a hospital in India are once again taking the fizz out of the popular drinks, declaring in a recent study that sodas may also be linked to esophageal cancer. Given this recent finding, should you skip sodas for good?
Not necessarily, says Dr. Philip Jaffe, a gastroenterologist who teaches at the University of Connecticut Health Center. "The study is intriguing, but like all epidemiological studies, it has its limitations," he says. The problem is one of association. In the study, researchers cited U.S. data that showed per capita consumption of carbonated drinks rose by more than 450 percent from 1974 to 2000, from 10.8 gallons on average to 49.2 gallons in 2000. During that same period, the incidence rates of esophageal cancer rose by more than 570 percent in white American men. While the two trends may be associated with each other, however, some outside experts say the connection is tenuous.
Some of the harshest criticism comes from the soft-drink industry.
"I don't think this study has any scientific merit," says Dr. Richard Adamson, vice president of scientific and technical affairs for the National Soft Drink Association, a trade group that promotes the industry. "They looked at numbers and didn't establish a causal link."
Adamson says that because study authors didn't dig further to see if those diagnosed with the cancer also drank the beverage, asserting that sodas may cause esophageal cancer is a considerable reach. According to Adamson, people also ate more pizzas over that time span; cell phone and computer use skyrocketed as well. And yet, he points out, researchers didn't correlate those behaviors with esophageal cancer.
The bottom line? "Don't take the news about soda and esophageal cancer to heart," says Jaffe, who gave precisely that advice to a patient who swore he was going to give up the fizzy brew after hearing about the research from India. "If part of what makes life enjoyable for you is having a couple of Diet Cokes, then go ahead. Life is short and there are worse habits to have. You have to put everything into perspective."
Unfortunately, that advice is unlikely to become a headline anytime soon...
[S. Jhoanna Robledo, "Soda drinkers beware?," MSN.com, 5 January 2005.]
A new study attempts to link drinking soda pop with esophageal cancer, but as with the naproxen / stroke link, the evidence is pretty thin:
For years, carbonated soft drinks have gotten a bad rap from dentists who say most of them are sugar-laden and encourage the growth of cavities. Nutritionists have blamed sodas in part for the obesity problem in America, saying they're full of empty calories. Now a team of digestive-disease doctors at a hospital in India are once again taking the fizz out of the popular drinks, declaring in a recent study that sodas may also be linked to esophageal cancer. Given this recent finding, should you skip sodas for good?
Not necessarily, says Dr. Philip Jaffe, a gastroenterologist who teaches at the University of Connecticut Health Center. "The study is intriguing, but like all epidemiological studies, it has its limitations," he says. The problem is one of association. In the study, researchers cited U.S. data that showed per capita consumption of carbonated drinks rose by more than 450 percent from 1974 to 2000, from 10.8 gallons on average to 49.2 gallons in 2000. During that same period, the incidence rates of esophageal cancer rose by more than 570 percent in white American men. While the two trends may be associated with each other, however, some outside experts say the connection is tenuous.
Some of the harshest criticism comes from the soft-drink industry.
"I don't think this study has any scientific merit," says Dr. Richard Adamson, vice president of scientific and technical affairs for the National Soft Drink Association, a trade group that promotes the industry. "They looked at numbers and didn't establish a causal link."
Adamson says that because study authors didn't dig further to see if those diagnosed with the cancer also drank the beverage, asserting that sodas may cause esophageal cancer is a considerable reach. According to Adamson, people also ate more pizzas over that time span; cell phone and computer use skyrocketed as well. And yet, he points out, researchers didn't correlate those behaviors with esophageal cancer.
The bottom line? "Don't take the news about soda and esophageal cancer to heart," says Jaffe, who gave precisely that advice to a patient who swore he was going to give up the fizzy brew after hearing about the research from India. "If part of what makes life enjoyable for you is having a couple of Diet Cokes, then go ahead. Life is short and there are worse habits to have. You have to put everything into perspective."
Unfortunately, that advice is unlikely to become a headline anytime soon...
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