Women who consume sugary drinks every day may be at risk for liver cancer and chronic liver disease, a recent study published in JAMA found.

Sugar-sweetened beverages, including regular soda, fruit drinks, sports drinks, energy drinks and coffee, are the leading source of added sugars in the American diet, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. What’s more, about 63% of adults drink sugary drinks once daily or more.

Researchers studied data from nearly 100,000 postmenopausal women over two decades. Nearly 7% of women in the study consumed one or more sugary drinks a day. These women had an 85% higher risk for chronic liver disease mortality compared with those who drank less than one sugar-sweetened drink a week, Everyday Health reported.

Consuming sugary drinks every day may increase one’s risk for insulin resistance and inflammation, which are often associated with the start of liver cancer, according to the study’s  authors.

“If our findings are confirmed, reducing sugar-sweetened beverage consumption might serve as a public health strategy to reduce liver disease burden,” corresponding study author Xuehong Zhang, MBBS, ScD, told Everyday Health.

A limitation of the study, according to Dale Shepard, MD, PhD, a medical oncologist who was not involved in the study  is that participants who consumed more sugar-sweetened drinks had a higher body mass index and were less active, which are both risk factors for cancer, including obesity-related cancers like liver cancer,

While experts suggest prioritizing water for hydration, unsweetened coffee and tea are also healthy choices. Beverages such as fruit juice and sodas should be consumed moderately or limited.

To learn more about #Nutrition and #Liver Disease, check out articles such as “High-Fat, Low Carbohydrate Diet Improves Fatty Liver Disease,” “High-Cholesterol Diet May Accelerate Fatty Liver Disease” or “Fast Food Linked to Liver Disease.”