Consuming sugary drinks daily linked with higher risk of liver cancer and disease in women
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.
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.
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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Confident we are going to win Kerala: Shashi Tharoor
New Delhi (PTI): Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Thursday expressed confidence in the victory of the United Democratic Front (UDF) in Kerala, saying the Congress-led alliance will win more than 75 seats out of the total 140 in the state.
Tharoor, who hails from Kerala, said he was not surprised to see the results of the exit polls, most of which predicted a victory for the UDF that has been out of power for 10 years in the state.
"We have been on the ground. I have campaigned in 59 constituencies across 12 districts out of 14. I was very confident we are going to win.
"Everything that I have picked up from not just my party colleagues and workers but also from other observers, media and others have always convinced me that we were going to score a comfortable win of above 75 seats. And all the (exit) polls have confirmed the same thing," he told reporters here.
The Thiruvananthapuram MP said he was not surprised to see the results of the exit polls but in general he was not a big fan of exit polls in India.
"Because ours is not purely a homogenous society. We have to take into account gender issue, caste issue, class issue, regional disparities. You never get a convincingly large enough sample to give an accurate poll and now there is the additional complication that we have heard about in West Bengal this year that many people are unwilling to answer the questions of the pollsters," he said.
The Congress leader said normally, it used to be below 10 per cent that people said that they would not answer.
"Even if you are a reputable exit pollster, in Bengal, one polling company has said 60 per cent of people refused to answer. So, what is the worth of a poll where 60 per cent of your respondents have not answered," he said.
Several exit polls on Wednesday predicted a comeback by the Congress-led UDF in Kerala after 10 years, dethroning the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF).
Polling for the 140-member Kerala assembly was held on April 9. Results of assembly elections in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Puducherry, besides Kerala, will be announced on May 4.
