A new study from New Haven, Conn.-based Yale Cancer Center published in PLOS ONE found drinking low- or no-calorie, artificially sweetened beverages is associated with a lower risk of colon cancer recurrence and cancer death.
The researchers analyzed data from 1,018 patients who drank one or more 12-ounce serving of artificially sweetened beverages per day, which included soft drinks such as caffeinated colas and other carbonated beverages.
Here are some key findings:
1. Cola-drinking patients experienced a 46 percent improvement in risk of cancer recurrence or death compared to those who didn’t drink soft drinks.
2. Researchers found half the benefit of drinking soft drinks was due to substituting a beverage sweetened with sugar for an artificially sweetened one.
3. “Artificially sweetened drinks have a checkered reputation in the public because of purported health risks that have never really been documented,” said the study’s senior author, Charles S. Fuchs, MD, director of Yale Cancer Center. “We now find that, in terms of colon cancer recurrence and survival, use of artificially sweetened drinks is not a health risk, but is, in this study, a healthier choice.”