Study links sugary soda to pancreas cancer

Video: Soda pop linked to pancreatic cancer?

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   >> the next day.

   >> now you know little bit more about vancouver, and one of the people who's going to be helping us out while we stay here is nbc's chief medical editor dr. nancy snyderman . and nancy 's here this morning with important medical news. basically, nancy -- first of all, good morning.

   >> hi, matt.

   >> we're talking about a couple studies that just came out. one in particular gets a lot of attention, and that's about this connection between pancreatic cancer and the consumption of sweetened soft drinks. what's the headline here.

   >> big study out of singapore with 60,000 people. expect the study to go down in flames overnight. the real headline was, if you drink more than two sodas a week, you have an 87% risk of pancreatic cancer . experts have jumped on this study and said, look, the real concern is the number was small. only 12 cases out of 140 cases of pancreatic cancer . most people in the study did not drink that much, and the number one cause of the pancreatic cancer continued to be smoking, diabetes, obesity. so, perhaps don't drink diet sodas for a lot of reasons, but this may not be it.

   >> quickly, another study talking about the risk of autism in a child and the age of that child's mother when she gives birth.

   >> this is one you should pay attention to. for every five years that a mother gets older, there's an 18% increased risk of getting autism. so, by the time a woman is 40, she has a 50% higher risk than a mom who's 25. that's a good study and that will stand independently.

   >> all right, nancy . we look forward to being with you while we're out here.

   >> you, too, matt.

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