Cancerous soda

Yesterday, the news portal canada.com (a subsiduary of CanWest Global) published an article examining a recent study that suggested that higher soda consumption led to increased risk for pancreatic cancer.

According to the article, researchers at the University of Minnesota concluded that consuming two or more sodas per week had an 87 per cent increased risk for acquiring pancreatic cancer.

The pancreas produces insulin in the body when sugar is consumed. Naturally, when a beverage is consumed that is very high in sugar, the pancreas has to work very hard to produce enough insulin to metabolize the sugar.

But does 87 per cent seem high? Does that mean if you consumer two sodas a day, you have an 87 per cent chance of acquiring cancer? Probably not.

The article doesn't provide information on what an individual risk of acquiring pancreatic cancer is in the first place. According to the National Cancer Institute, the chance of acquiring cancer in one's lifetime is 1 in approximately 7600. That works out to approximately 0.013 per cent. Increase 0.013 by 87 per cent and you are still left with a per cent chance of 0.024 of acquiring cancer (0.013 per cent multiplied by 1.87 to signify the 87 per cent increase).

Clearly, media is playing fast and loose with facts. It is important to understand how numbers are generated and what they represent. This does not mean that drinking large amounts of soda will not impact one's health. Bear in mind that drinking massive quantities of soda leads to an increased risk of diabetes and heart disease.