People who drank at least one sugar-sweetened beverage a day had a 2.45-fold higher risk of stomach cancer than those who almost never touched them. That is the headline finding of a new analysis published in Gastro Hep Advances, which tracked 112,284 US adults from the Nurses' Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study.
The two long-running Harvard-affiliated cohorts were followed from 1986 through 2022, during which 278 gastric cancer cases were documented. The link held for both sexes, but the risk was steeper in women, who saw roughly a threefold increase, than in men, who saw roughly a doubling.
The drinks in question were the everyday ones. Carbonated sodas, lemonade, fruit punch and sports drinks were all grouped together as sugar-sweetened beverages. Low-calorie and artificially sweetened alternatives did not show a significant association with gastric cancer in the same analysis.
Why researchers think the link may be real
The study is observational, so it can show association, not cause. But the authors argue the biology is plausible. Sugar-sweetened drinks are a major source of added fructose, and higher total fructose intake tracked with higher gastric cancer incidence in the cohort, particularly among women.
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From there, the proposed pathways include weight gain, insulin resistance, meaning the body's cells respond less effectively to insulin, along with steroid hormone imbalance, chronic inflammation, DNA damage and disruption of the gut microbiome. None of these mechanisms is proven for stomach cancer specifically, and the authors call for more work to test them.
Senior author Andrew T. Chan, a gastroenterologist at Massachusetts General Hospital, framed the result as a first for the US population. He said that "this is the first study to demonstrate an association between sugar-sweetened beverage intake and gastric cancer in a US population."
What this means against the US baseline
Stomach cancer is not among the most common US cancers, which matters when reading a "more than double" figure. The American Cancer Society estimates about 31,510 new cases and 10,740 deaths from stomach cancer in the country in 2026, with a lifetime risk of about 1 in 104 for men and 1 in 153 for women. A relative risk that doubles a small baseline is still a small absolute risk for most individuals.
The reach of the exposure is what gives the finding its weight. Roughly two in three US adults consume at least one sugar-sweetened beverage on a typical day, which means even a modest true effect could translate into a meaningful number of cases at the population level.
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The study also had limits worth noting. Information on Helicobacter pylori infection, the best-established risk factor for stomach cancer, was incomplete, and dietary data relied on periodic questionnaires. The authors flag both as caveats rather than reasons to dismiss the signal.
For anyone with persistent stomach symptoms such as unexplained pain, early fullness, nausea or unintended weight loss, the guidance in this study does not change: talk to a doctor rather than try to interpret early warning signs alone. On the beverage side, the practical takeaway from the researchers is straightforward. Swapping one daily sugary drink for water, sparkling water or unsweetened tea is a concrete step readers can start with today.
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This article is made and published by Jesper Bengtson, who may have used AI in the preparation.