Welcome  to  Public  Health  moment from  the  University  of  Minnesota. Drinking  two  or  more  soft  drinks  a  week  may increase  your  risk  of  developing  pancreatic  cancer. That's  according  to  research  by  Mark  Pereira, an  Associate  Professor  of Epidemiology  at  the  University  of  Minnesota. We  were  interested  in  studying  sugar  sweetened  beverages because  they're  so  prevalent  in society,  especially  Western  society. And  they've  been  shown  to  increase  risk  for  type two  diabetes  and  possibly  obesity. We  looked  at  how  often  people  were consuming  soft  drinks,  sugar  sweetened  beverages. Mostly  the  cola  types  of beverages  and  carbonated  beverages, but  with  lots  of  sugar  in  them. And  we  found  that  consuming these  beverages  on  almost  a  daily  basis, on  average  about  five  times  per  week. Some  people  were  consuming  a  lot  more. Their  risk  of  getting pancreatic  cancer  over  the  time  period  of  the  study  was almost  two  times  higher  than their  counterparts  who  were consuming  little  or  no  sugar  sweetened  beverages. Pereira  says  that  pancreatic  cancer  is  rare,  but  deadly. Only  about  5%  of  people  who  are diagnosed  with  it  survive  five  years  or  more. Through  their  effects  on  the  hormone  insulin, these  beverages  might  really  increase  risk. And  it's  probably  especially  true  in  people  who  are  at high  risk  for  this  very  rare  but  deadly  cancer. With  another  public  health  moment,  I'm  John  Finnegan.