The American Association for Cancer Research reports that sugary drinks raise the risk of endometrial cancer in postmenopausal women. Endometrial cancer begins in the uterus and is sometimes called uterine cancer. The study’s results are published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.

Researchers found that postmenopausal women who imbibed the greatest quantity of sugary drinks had a 78 percent raised risk for estrogen-dependent type I endometrial cancer.

“Although ours is the first study to show this relationship, it is not surprising to see that women who drank more sugar-sweetened beverages had a higher risk of estrogen-dependent type I endometrial cancer but not estrogen-independent type II endometrial cancer,” said Maki Inoue-Choi, a research associate in the Division of Epidemiology and Community Health of the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, in a news release.

“Other studies have shown increasing consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages has paralleled the increase in obesity,” she added. “Obese women tend to have higher levels of estrogens and insulin than women of normal weight. Increased levels of estrogens and insulin are established risk factors for endometrial cancer.”

To draw their conclusions, researchers examined data from more than 23,000 postmenopausal women who participated in the Women’s Health Study. A questionnaire was used to query women about the consumption frequency of 127 different kinds of food in the previous 12 months. The questionnaire also included several questions about the consumption frequency of sugary drinks.

The researchers placed the sugar-sweetened drink consumption patterns into quintiles, ranging from no intake to between 1.7 and 60.5 servings per week. They recorded 506 type I and 89 type II endometrial cancers among the participants between 1986 and 2010.

“Research has documented the contribution of sugar-sweetened beverages to the obesity epidemic,” added Inoue-Choi. “Too much added sugar can boost a person’s overall calorie intake and may increase the risk of health conditions such as obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.”