Experts WARN: Ditch the diet coke to reduce your risk of developing cancer

We’ve long known that certain cancers have been linked to our diet, but now experts have found that diet drink alternatives may account for over five per cent of all causes of cancers.

In fact, consuming just two cans of sugar-laden fizzy drinks can increase the risk of an early death from heart disease by as much as a THIRD.

Drinking fizzy drinks every day could increase your chances of dying young

A new study by researchers at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts found that 40 per cent of all cases of bowel cancer has been linked to a poor diet.

Experts found that those who do not eat enough fruit and vegetables were at higher risk of developing mouth cancer, and those who ate a lot of processed meat were more likely to develop stomach cancer.

What’s more, those who consumed fizzy or sweetened drinks were more likely to become obese and according to Cancer Research UK, there are therefore more likely to contract cancers such as bowel endometrial, kidney, gallbladder, pancreatic and multiple myeloma cancers.

According to the American Cancer Society, being overweight has been linked to also increase your risk of other cancers, such as breast, oesophagus, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, liver, cervix, ovary, prostate, thyroid, upper stomach and meningioma, which is a type of brain tumour.

“Our findings underscore the opportunity to reduce cancer burden and disparities in the United States by improving food intake,” says study author Fang Fang Zhang, a cancer and nutrition researcher at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts.

Experts are urging people to makes these changes in their diet to help lower the risk of developing cancer:

• Eat more whole grain food like brown bread, pasta and rice
• Eat more dairy
• Cut down on processed meat
• Eat more fruit and vegetables
• Reduce red meat intake
• Stop drinking sweetened or fizzy drinks

Another study by Harvard scientists found that those who regularly consumed sugary drinks were at the risk of an early death by a fifth.

Experts looked at data from 80,647 women and 37,716 men about lifestyle factors every two years.

They found that those who drank just two fizzy drinks a day were 31 per cent more likely to die young from heart disease.

Dr Vasanti Malik, who led the study, said: “Our results provide further support to limit intake of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) and to replace them with other drinks, preferably water, to improve overall health and longevity.

“Drinking water in place of sugary drinks is a healthy choice that could contribute to longevity.

“Diet soda may be used to help frequent consumers of sugary drinks cut back their consumption, but water is the best and healthiest choice.”