Sweet beverages and the risk of colorectal cancer: the Norwegian Women and Cancer Study.

Abstract

Background: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common type of cancer worldwide, with Norwegian women having the highest incidence rate of colon cancer in 2022. The consumption of sweet beverages is a suggested modifiable risk factor for CRC; however, current evidence is limited and inconclusive.

Objective: To assess the associations between the intake of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs), artificially sweetened beverages (ASBs), and juice and the risk of overall and subsite-specific CRC among Norwegian women.

Methods: In this prospective cohort study, we included 73,921 participants aged 41-61 years at baseline. Information on sweet beverage consumption was collected using self-reported food frequency questionnaires at two time points between 1998 and 2014. We used Cox proportional hazards models to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) with corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the associations between sweet beverage consumption and the risk of overall CRC, proximal colon cancer, distal colon cancer, and rectal cancer.

Results: During a mean follow-up time of 16.5 years from baseline, 1,187 women were diagnosed with CRC. Compared to no consumption, juice consumption was inversely associated with overall CRC risk (HR_{≥ 7 glasses/wk} = 0.81, 95% CI: 0.67-0.98; p-trend = 0.025), colon cancer (HR_{≥ 7 glasses/wk} = 0.73, 95% CI: 0.58-0.94; p-trend = 0.015) and proximal colon cancer (HR_{≥ 7 glasses/wk} = 0.71, 95% CI: 0.52-0.99; p-trend = 0.065) after adjusting for age, education, and diabetes status at baseline. No associations were observed between juice consumption and distal colon cancer or rectal cancer risk, or between the intake of SSBs or ASBs and CRC.

Conclusion: We observed no substantial association between the intake of SSBs or ASBs and the risk of CRC or cancer in colorectal subsites in our cohort of Norwegian women. Conversely, our results indicate that juice consumption is associated with a reduced risk of CRC, particularly in the colon. These results warrant further investigation in larger cohorts with power to detect possible differences in cancer risk across colorectal subsites, especially as patterns of sweet beverage consumption are changing.