A new study from Mass General Brigham has found that drinking sugary beverages daily may substantially raise the risk of developing stomach cancer. Researchers say the findings add to growing evidence that sugar-sweetened drinks could be contributing to a rise in gastrointestinal cancers, offering a potentially modifiable lifestyle factor that people could adjust to reduce their risk.

After adjusting for other risk factors, the study found that consuming one or more sugary drinks a day was linked to an almost threefold increase in gastric cancer risk compared with drinking fewer than one serving a month. The researchers note that roughly two-thirds (63%) of American adults report drinking sugar-sweetened beverages regularly, underlining how widespread the habit is and the scale of the potential public health implications.