New Delhi (PTI): Women consuming sugar-sweetened drinks daily are a higher risk of developing liver cancer and chronic liver disease mortality, scientists have found in the US.

The observational study, led by researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital, US, included 98,786 postmenopausal women from the prospective Women's Health Initiative (WHI) study. The WHI study focuses on strategies for preventing heart disease, breast and colorectal cancer, and osteoporosis in postmenopausal women.

Of the group, the 6.8 per cent women consuming one or more sugar-sweetened beverages daily had 85 per cent higher risk of liver cancer and 68 per cent higher risk of chronic liver disease mortality, the study found by observing women for over 20 years.

This data was compared against those who had fewer than three sugar sweetened beverages per month, the study said.

''To our knowledge, this is the first study to report an association between sugar sweetened beverage intake and chronic liver disease mortality,'' said Longgang Zhao, first author of the study published in the Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA) Network Open.

''Our findings, if confirmed, may pave the way to a public health strategy to reduce risk of liver disease based on data from a large and geographically diverse cohort,'' said Zhao.

The women participants reported their usual soft drink, fruit drink (not including fruit juice) consumption, and then reported artificially sweetened beverage consumption after three years. They were followed for a median of more than 20 years.

The researchers looked at self-reported liver cancer incidence and death due to chronic liver disease such as fibrosis, cirrhosis, or chronic hepatitis, which were further verified by medical and/or death records.

They said that being an observational study, causality could not be inferred and that they relied on responses that were self-reported.

More studies were needed to validate this risk association and determine why sugary drinks appeared to increase risk of liver cancer and disease, they said.

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Bangkok: A 36-year-old woman in Thailand has been sentenced to death in the first of a string of cases in which she is accused of murdering 14 friends with cyanide.

The court in Bangkok on Wednesday found Sararat Rangsiwuthaporn, guilty of putting poison in a wealthy friend's food and drink while they were on a trip last year. According to a report by the Guardian, the two met near Bangkok in April 2023 to release fish into the Mae Klong river as part of a Buddhist ritual. Siriporn collapsed and died shortly afterwards and investigators found traces of cyanide in her body. Her phone, money and bags were missing when she was found.

Tongpin Kiatchanasiri, Siriporn’s mother, told reporters that the court’s decision is fair. “I want to tell my daughter that I miss her deeply and justice has been done for her today,” she expressed.

Sararat, described as an online gambling addict, is accused of swindling thousands of dollars from her victims before killing them with the chemical.

“She asked people she knows for money because she has a lot of credit card debt; and if they asked her for their money back, she started killing them,” Surachate Hakparn, deputy national police chief, was quoted as saying by the publication.

She has lured 15 people, one of whom survived, to take poisoned “herb capsules”. Sararat faces 13 more separate murder trials and has been charged with about 80 offences in total.