Sugary Drinks Linked To Doubled Risk Of Stomach Cancer

THURSDAY, Aug. 20, 2026 (HealthDay News) — Sugary drinks aren’t just rotting your teeth, a new study says.

Sugar-sweetened beverages might more than double a person’s risk of stomach cancer, researchers reported Aug. 17 in the journal Gastro Hep Advances.

“This is the first study to demonstrate an association between sugar-sweetened beverage intake and gastric cancer in a U.S. population,” senior researcher Dr. Andrew Chan said in a news release. He is a gastroenterologist and epidemiologist with Mass General Brigham Cancer Institute in Boston.

“Gastric cancer is the fifth-leading cause of cancer death worldwide, but we’ve known very little about how diet might contribute to this cancer,” Chan said.

For the study, researchers analyzed data for more than 112,000 health professionals participating in two long-term research projects.

Both studies gathered detailed diet, lifestyle and health information on participants. During decades of follow-up, 278 people developed stomach cancer.

Results showed that people who drank at least one sugar-sweetened beverage a day had a nearly 2.5 times higher risk of stomach cancer, compared to those who drank less than one per month. Examples of sugar-sweetened beverages included drinks like lemonade, soda and sports beverages. 

Higher intake of fructose — the main sweetener in these drinks — also was associated with increased risk of stomach cancer.

However, artificially sweetened drinks were not associated with any increased odds of stomach cancer, researchers found.

Researchers theorize that the increased risk might owe to underlying reasons, such as weight gain, increased insulin resistance, hormone imbalances or inflammation.

More information

The American Cancer Society has more on stomach cancer.

SOURCE: Mass General Brigham, news release, Aug. 17, 2026