Just two glasses of one drink daily 'doubles risk of cancer by time you're 50'

Recent research warns that knocking back just a few fizzy drinks daily could greatly increase young people's risk of developing bowel cancer by the time they turn 50.

Frequent consumers of sugary beverages are more than twice as likely to suffer from the disease early in life, researchers have found.

A daily serving of eight fluid ounces or a small can ups the risk by a whopping 16 percentand even more so during an individual's teenage years. Risky refreshments include fizzy soft drinks, fruity concoctions, and energy-boosting liquids.

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This alarming trend may explain the rise in colorectal cancer cases among individuals under 50.

Dr Yin Cao, who led the study, has advocated for initiatives that discourage consumption among teens and young adults, suggesting: "It may serve as a potential strategy to alleviate the growing burden."

Choosing to swap out fizzy drinks for artificially sweetened ones, coffee, or milk could reduce the danger by up to 36 percent. The study drew on data from 95,464 US-based female nurses, aged between 25 and 42, followed for nearly a quarter of a century.

These women reported on their consumption habits through food frequency questionnaires every four years, starting in 1991. Additionally, 41,272 of them remembered their dietary patterns from age 13 to 18.

By the end of the monitoring period, 109 had developed bowel cancer before reaching 50. A clear correlation was noticed between high fizzy drink intake and increased incidence of the illness, compared to those who seldom indulged.

Dr Cao of the University of Washington, St Louis, warned: "These drinks have steadily risen in popularity - particularly among teens and young adults."

The groundbreaking study, released in Gut, has made waves by being the first to link these beverages with an increased risk of bowel cancer appearing in middle age. There's been a worrying rise in cases of early-onset colorectal cancer in the last twenty years, and the exact causes are still hazy.

A gathering of international experts reckon there could be "biologically plausible explanations" behind the findings. Sweetened beverages play havoc with hunger signals, potentially causing weight gain.

Moreover, they cause blood sugar to skyrocket, leading to extra insulin pumping out which can cause inflammation, ballooning weight, and type 2 diabetes. Its looking like high fructose corn syrup and glucose, key ingredients in many soft drinks, could even stoke growth in intestinal tumors.

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Cutting-edge research suggests that these sugary concoctions could be messing with our gut lining too, paving the way for tumors to get comfy. For American twenty and thirtysomethings, there's a gut-wrenching risk of bowel cancer, up to four times than what it was for individuals born circa 1950.

Leading the charge in added sugars in American diets, fizzy drinks account for a shocking 39 per cent. Shockingly, one in eight Americans (12 per cent) is downing more than three sodas a day.

Dr Cao revealed: "A recent study demonstrated high-fructose corn syrup treated mice had substantial colon tumour growth with aggressive grade. This was independent of obesity and metabolic syndrome - which lends additional support to the link between sugar-sweetened beverages and colorectal cancer risk."

Corn syrup, a mixture of glucose and fructose commonly used to sweeten soft drinks in America, is less prevalent in the UK where cane sugar dominates, yet offers a similar nutrition profile with comparable fructose and glucose levels.

Known for its role in increasing rates of obesity and type 2 diabetes through heavy consumption, Dr Cao further commented: "Considering the well-established, adverse health consequences and the highest consumption being characterized in adolescents and young adults under age 50 years, our findings reinforce the public health importance of limiting intake for better outcomes."

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