Oncologist Prof. Jaak Janssens from the Limburgs Universitair Centrum in Diepenbeek describes experiments in which young subjects fasted or drank 33 cl of a non-alcoholic beverage or the same quantity of table beer (Belgian table beer contains 1.1 percent alcohol; table beer was popular among the young before the introduction of soft drinks) over a period of 12 hours. The research concentrated on the resultant changes of insulin, the hormone that controls the blood sugar level. As expected, insulin levels peaked in the group of teenagers who had drunk the soft drinks, while such high concentrations were not found in the group who had drunk table beer. That is hardly surprising, since table beer contains relatively fewer simple and mainly complex sugars. What did emerge from this experiment was the fact that the insulin peak after the consumption of soft drinks is greater the more overweight the subject. Curiously enough, the insulin level does not appear to be dependent on blood sugar content, nor even on body weight per se; it does, however, appear to be dependent on the presence of obesity.
Prof. Janssens, also chairman of the European Cancer Prevention Organisation, believes that insulin is a key factor in the development of breasts, because insulin has an affect on other hormones, including human growth hormone and sex hormones. An abnormal production of insulin at a critical moment in the development of the breast may lead to abnormalities in the breast cells. Abnormalities that may later trigger the development of breast cancer.

The consumption of soft drinks in combination with the eating of high-calorie foods in puberty often results in obesity. Obesity increases sensitivity to the hormone insulin that controls the blood sugar level. It is quite possible that other body cells, including breast gland cells, react and become less sensitive to the effect of insulin. There is a chance that these cells subsequently develop abnormally and may cause breast cancer in later life.
It was also found that weight-gain and obesity among Western women in early adulthood is accompanied by an increased risk of breast cancer. Insulin is probably the explanation for this phenomenon. Men were found to display a similar pattern (a high soft drinks consumption and excess weight from an early age leading to an increased risk of cancer of the testicles and prostate gland).

Table beer has a low alcohol content (no alcohol was detected in the blood of the young subjects who took part in the above-mentioned experiment) and is readily metabolized in the body, without disturbing the insulin balance. Insulin is probably a factor in cancer. Preventive measures that leave insulin levels unaffected (for example, cutting out soft drinks and/or drinking table beer instead) may perhaps reduce the risk of certain cancers, breast cancer included.
Whether a high consumption of soft drinks increases the risk of cancer is still not yet clear. More epidemiological research is needed to confirm the suspicion.

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