Soft drinks and soda—i.e. the most worthless of all foods—could increase your risk of developing pancreatic cancer.

Pancreatic cancer is one of the most deadly forms of cancer, with only 5% of people surviving five years after diagnosis.

And now, writing in the journal of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, scientists have found soft drinks, like soda and sugar sweetened juices, increase risk of pancreatic cancer.

Studying over 60,000 middle-aged or older Chinese Singaporeans, researchers tracked how much juice and soda people drank on average, following them for 14 years to see how many developed pancreatic cancer.

Data revealed participants who drank two or more sodas a week were 87% more likely to get cancer than those who didn’t drink soda.

So have a Coke and some cancer—not a smile.

Via HealthDay News.

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You can’t escape your genes. No matter how healthy you are, your family history is always a factor. Thanks mom and dad! Ugh.

That even includes things like diabetes risk.

A new study published in the journal Diabetes Care found that women with diabetes in their family have double the risk of developing the disease.

Researchers examined data on 73,227 women spanning a 20 year period, where 5,101 developed type-2 diabetes.

Findings showed women with at least one parent or sibling with diabetes had more than two-fold the risk of type-2 diabetes.

Via Reuters.

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Ironically, salt is put into a lot of food to increase self life by decreasing spoilage, which reduces waste, and saves money.

But cutting salt out of Americans’ diets could save $24 billion in healthcare costs each year.

It boils down to preventing heart disease.

Writing in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers found that removing just three grams of salt per day would lower the number of heart disease cases in the U.S. by 11%.

When you break it down, results show heart attacks will be cut by 13%, stroke 8%, and the number of deaths by 4%.

The problem is a lot of this salt is being consumed as additives to food, not from the salt shaker, so food producers need to make the biggest changes.

Via Food Navigator.

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Spreading caviar on fancy crackers might come back to haunt you.

Writing in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, experts found salted foods have an impact on cancer risk.

Among the 77,500 Japanese men and women studied—ages 45 to 74—4,476 cases of cancer were diagnosed; mostly gastric and colorectal cancer.

Oddly, salt itself was not associated with cancer risk, but rather salted foods, like fish roe (caviar).

Researchers say heavy consumption of dried or salted fish was linked to a higher risk of gastric and colorectal cancer.

This may be caused by the build up of carcinogens in salty found due to nitrates or nitrite preservatives.

Via Food Navigator.

Image credit: The Telegraph.

Not exactly a good start for the future of a country.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports one in five American teenagers have high cholesterol levels.

High cholesterol is a known risk factor for heart disease.

Studying data from a national health survey, the CDC found 20.3% of young people, ages 12 to 19, had unhealthy cholesterol levels.

Heavier teens were more likely to have high cholesterol and boys were found to be at higher risk than girls.

Researchers say unhealthy cholesterol often begins in childhood and adolescence, so it’s important that doctors identify it early and recommend lifestyle interventions.

Via Reuters.

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Kidney stones are buildups of solidified minerals and acid salts; kidney stones can be very painful to pass; i.e. pee them out.

And obesity may increase the likelihood of developing kidney stones.

Writing in The Journal of Urology, researchers found that becoming obese seems to parallel the risk of getting a kidney stone.

For the study, scientists examined data on 3,257 people with kidney stones and determined their body mass index.

Findings revealed participants with normal body weight—a BMI of 18.5 to 24.9—had a 1 in 40 chance of being diagnosed with kidney stones, compared to a 1 in 20 risk for people with a BMI of over 30, considered obese.

The heaviest people were also more likely to need surgery to remove the stone; surgery is surprisingly rare for kidney stone treatment.

Via Reuters.

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