Although pancreatic cancer is rare, its touch is almost always fatal, a heart-breaking fact I learned first-hand during the summer of 2005. All the more reason to do whatever you can to lessen your odds, no matter how small they are.

Being an unapologetic lover of soft drinks for too many years, however, even I was surprised and a bit worried to learn how consuming more than two sugary, fizzy drinks a week nearly doubled a person's risk of PanCan.

Of the 61,000 middle-aged or older patients who participated in the Singapore Chinese Health Study over a 14-year span, only 140 cases of pancreatic cancer were reported, all things considered a very low number. Here's the kicker and, potentially, a huge problem for more of us than we'd care to admit: Patients who consumed two or more carbonated sodas a week -- the actual average was five -- increased their pancreatic cancer risk by 87 percent versus those who drank none.

The problem: Too many soft drinks -- filled to the brim with high fructose sweeteners -- may be increasing insulin levels in the body and contributing to pancreatic cancer cell growth.

But that's not all. Drinking sugary, sweet sodas regularly was generally an indicator of a riskier health profile overall, scientists say, making me wonder when I should start tapering off for good.

Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, Vol. 19, No. 2, pp. 447-455, February 2010

EurekAlert February 8, 2010

Yahoo News February 8, 2010