<div><p>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - People who drink two or more sweetened soft drinks a week have a much higher risk of pancreatic cancer, an unusual but deadly cancer, researchers reported on Monday.</p><p>People who drank mostly fruit juice instead of sodas did not have the same risk, the study of 60,000 people in Singapore found.</p><p>Sugar may be to blame but people who drink sweetened sodas regularly often have other poor health habits, said Mark Pereira of the University of Minnesota, who led the study.</p><p>"The high levels of sugar in soft drinks may be increasing the level of insulin in the body, which we think contributes to pancreatic cancer cell growth," Pereira said in a statement.</p><p>Insulin, which helps the body metabolize sugar, is made in the pancreas.</p><p>Writing in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, Pereira and colleagues said they followed 60,524 men and women in the Singapore Chinese Health Study for 14 years.</p><p>Over that time, 140 of the volunteers developed pancreatic cancer. Those who drank two or more soft drinks a week had an 87 percent higher risk of being among those who got pancreatic cancer.</p><p>Pereira said he believed the findings would apply elsewhere.</p><p>"Singapore is a wealthy country with excellent healthcare. Favorite pastimes are eating and shopping, so the findings should apply to other western countries," he said.</p><p>But Susan Mayne of the Yale Cancer Center at Yale University in Connecticut was cautious.</p><p>"Although this study found a risk, the finding was based on a relatively small number of cases and it remains unclear whether it is a causal association or not," said Mayne, who serves on the board of the journal, which is published by the American Association for Cancer Research.</p><p>"Soft drink consumption in Singapore was associated with several other adverse health behaviors such as smoking and red meat intake, which we can't accurately control for."</p><p>Other studies have linked pancreatic cancer to red meat, especially burned or charred meat.</p><p>Pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest forms of cancer, with 230,000 cases globally. In the United States, 37,680 people are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in a year and 34,290 die of it.</p><p>The American Cancer Society says the five-year survival rate for pancreatic cancer patients is about 5 percent.</p><p>Some researchers believe high sugar intake may fuel some forms of cancer, although the evidence has been contradictory. Tumor cells use more glucose than other cells.</p><p>One 12-ounce (355 ml) can of non-diet soda contains about 130 calories, almost all of them from sugar.</p><p>(Editing by John O'Callaghan)</p><img src="http://admatch-syndication.mochila.com/images/ad.gif?aid=68673978&bid=informcom" /></div><div id="copyright"><div>

Copyright 2010  <a href="http://www.reuters.com/finance">Reuters US Online Report Health News</a></div></div>