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.

    People who drank mostly fruit juice instead of sodas did not have the same risk, the study of 60,000 people in Singapore found.

    Sugar may be to blame but people who drink sweetened sodas regularly often have other poor health habits, says Mark Pereira of the University of Minnesota, who led the study.

    "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 says.

    Insulin, which helps the body metabolize sugar, is made in the pancreas.

    Writing in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, Pereira and colleagues say they followed 60,524 men and women in the Singapore Chinese Health Study for 14 years.

    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.

    Pereira says he believed the findings would apply elsewhere.

    "Singapore is a wealthy country with excellent healthcare. Favorite pastimes are eating and shopping, so the findings should apply to other Western countries," he says.

    But Susan Mayne of the Yale Cancer Center at Yale University in Connecticut was cautious.

    研究者于本周一宣布：每周饮用至少两次甜味软饮料的人患胰腺癌的几率较高，这种癌症虽不常见但有致命危险。

    专家在新加坡对60000人进行研究发现，只喝果汁而很少喝碳酸饮料的人患胰腺癌的几率不高。

    此项研究负责人、明尼苏达大学的马克派瑞拉表示：糖分含量高可能是主要原因，但不排除喝甜味碳酸饮料的人有其他不良习惯。

    派瑞拉说："软饮料中含糖量较高有可能导致胰岛素分泌量增加，胰岛素增多会促进胰腺癌癌细胞的生长和扩散。"

    促进体内糖分代谢的胰岛素是由胰腺分泌的。

    派瑞拉及其同事在期刊《Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention》发表文章称：他们在新加坡华人健康研究中心对60524名测试志愿者进行了14年的跟踪研究。

    14年中，有140名志愿者患上了胰腺癌。这些人中，每周至少喝两次软饮料的志愿者患胰腺癌的几率高出87%.

    派瑞拉相信这些研究数据适用于别的国家和地区。

    他说："新加坡非常富有，医疗卫生条件先进。最主要的消遣方式就是饮食和购物。所以这些数据应该适用于其他西方国家。"

    但是美国康涅狄格州耶鲁大学耶鲁癌症研究中心的苏珊梅恩对此研究结果较为谨慎。