Dr. Jaak Janssens, specialist in Breast Cancer Research at the Limburg University in Belgium, claims that drinking sodas during the ages the breasts develop (10 - 14 years) significantly raises the risk for breast cancer at later age. The reason is the ‘free sugars’ that are abundant in the common sodas. Dr. Janssens made this claim at a Health Symposium in Brussels early November 1999.
His statement is based on ongoing research at the University. Young girls are asked to drink cola or beer, and after drinking, their insulin level in their blood is tested. If this level fluctuates too much or too often, which happens after drinking sodas, several diseases may show up, like obesity which may lead to diabetes, breast cancer and coronary diseases. The time frame of initial development of the breasts right before the first period is very sensitive for the mentioned fluctuations. Dr. Janssens says that slim girls have far less or no harmful effects at all by drinking sodas. The heavier girls are most sensitive. He also says that a lot of these ‘free sugars’ are around in candy of all kinds. Avoiding sodas and candy could significantly protect young girls from developing breast cancer at later age. Drinking low alcohol beer, what is commonly named ‘table-beer’ in Belgium, does not harm the young girls. Unfortunately, the common family drink, table-beer at lunch and dinner, has been replaced in most families by sodas since the sixties, and schools have submitted to the soda companies by installing soda machines in the schools. A harmful practice, we learn from Dr. Janssens research, that may hurt more and more young girls, especially since obesity is raising at an alarming rate in our schoolchildren.
Dr. Janssens is currently running his research on a thousand schoolgirls and 200 women that have been a victim of breast cancer.

A kind suggestion for the responsible parent in the USA, where drinking alcoholic beverages by young adults is illegal: teach your children to drink non-alcoholic beer.

Newsletter january 2000