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Drinking an average of just under 200 ml of a sugar-sweetened drink or fruit juice each day has been linked to an 18 per cent increase in cancer risk.

Researchers from the French Public Health Agency and the Nutritional Epidemiology Research Team (EREN) in Bobigny, France, analysed data from over 101,250 people, 79 per cent of whom were women. The average age at the start of the study was 42.

At the start of the study, participants filled-out questionnaires that assessed their intake of more than 3000 different food and drink items. They filled out further questionnaires every six months, with many of the participants taking part in the study for up to five years.

The team found that the average person consumed nearly 93 ml of sugary drinks or 100 per cent fruit juice – which contains naturally-occurring sugar – a day.

Every extra 100 ml on top of this was associated with an 18 per cent increased risk for all cancers, and a 22 per cent increased risk for breast cancer among women.

The association between sugary drinks and cancer risk held even when the team took each person’s weight into account. Obesity is known to raise the risk of 13 different types of cancer, but the team found that sugary drinks were linked to cancer risk even in slim people.

However, the team say that their findings only show there is an association between sugary drinks and cancer – they have not definitely proved that one causes the other.

Graham Wheeler, of University College London, says the study was large and well-designed but warns that the findings might not apply to a wider population.

Journal reference: British Medical Journal