Daily soft drink linked to increased risk of liver disease

In a new study, researchers have found an increased risk of liver cancer and chronic liver disease mortality among women who consume sugar-sweetened beverages on a daily basis.

Led by researchers at Harvard-affiliated  Brigham and Women’s Hospital, the observational study included nearly 100,000 postmenopausal women from the Women’s Health Initiative. Participants were followed for a median of more than 20 years. Researchers looked at self-reported liver cancer incidence and death due to chronic liver disease such as fibrosis, cirrhosis, or chronic hepatitis, which were further verified by medical records or the National Death Index.

A total of 98,786 postmenopausal women were included in the final analyses. The 6.8 percent of women who consumed one or more sugar-sweetened beverages daily had an 85 percent higher risk of liver cancer and 68 percent higher risk of chronic liver disease mortality compared to those who had fewer than three sugar-sweetened beverages per month.

“To our knowledge, this is the first study to report an association between sugar-sweetened beverage intake and chronic liver disease mortality,” said first author Longgang Zhao of the Brigham’s Channing Division of Network Medicine. Zhao is a postdoctoral researcher who works with senior author Xuehong Zhang in the Channing Division. “Our findings, if confirmed, may pave the way to a public health strategy to reduce risk of liver disease based on data from a large and geographically diverse cohort.”

The authors note that the study was observational, and causality cannot be inferred, and relied on self-reported responses about intake, sugar content and outcomes. More studies are needed to validate this risk association and determine why the sugary drinks appeared to increase risk of liver cancer and disease. Furthermore, more research is needed to elucidate the potential mechanisms by integrating genetics, preclinical and experimental studies, and -omics data.

Disclosures: Naughton reported grants from the National Institute of Aging (NIA) to The Ohio State University (to support the analysis and use of the Women’s Health Initiative [WHI] data for multiple publications during the conduct of the study; and grants from Merck Foundation (to support a research project not related to this article) outside the submitted work. Tobias reported grants from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and grants from the National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIH/NIDDK) during the conduct of the study. VoPham reported personal fees from Georgetown University (speaker honorarium); and grants from NIH/NIDDK (K01 DK125612), NIH/NCI (P20 CA252732; P30 CA015704), and NIH/NHLBI (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; 75N92019R0030) outside the submitted work. Dr Manson reported grants from NIH during the conduct of the study and grants from NIH and Mars Edge outside the submitted work. No other disclosures were reported.

The Women’s Health Initiative program is funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Zhang is supported by NIH/NCI grants, an American Cancer Society Research Scholar Grant, and an American Cancer Society Interdisciplinary Team Award.