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Originally Posted by Devils'Advocate
It really is a pain in the ass how much this one study is getting so much play. On CTV they had this write-in thingy where people were giving their opinions and one guy wrote in that he was sticking to diet sodas based on this report. But they were quick to point out that this study didn't differentiate based on diet vs non-diet pop. Therefore we are to assume that they are equally bad?
I mean 1000 studies have been done on aspartame and yet there is no conclusive evidence that it is harmful. Yet it is still being debated. However, this study is being taken as gospel for some reason.
I saw a study that linked potaoes to cancer. Why isn't there a call being made to end all potatoe consumption?
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It's all a matter of perspective, which tends to get lost in media reports. While the study does show an association between drinking pop and pancreatic cancer, you have to keep in mind that it's still only a relatively small proportion of people drinking pop that got this cancer. I haven't looked at the original paper, but if there were 140 cases of pancreatic cancer in over 60,000 people, that's only about 0.2% of the study population (after 14 years). The lifetime risk of getting pancreatic cancer in Canada is about 1.3% (with most occurring in the elderly). However these stats include the high risk people (smokers and diabetics); for the rest of us the chance is a lot smaller. I suspect most of the people getting pancreatic cancer had multiple risk factors, but would have to see the raw data to know for sure. I'd personally be more worried about diabetes and weight problems from drinking pop - though pancreatic cancer is pretty nasty if you do get it.