Breast Cancer Risk 28 Percent Higher Among Women Frequently Eating Sugary Foods, Study Reports

Could frequently eating sugary foods increase the risk of breast cancer? A large study suggests that women who regularly consume sugar-rich processed foods may face a higher risk of developing breast cancer, even though overall dietary sugar intake showed no significant association. 

Published in the European Journal of Nutrition, the study conducted by researchers at Seoul National University, South Korea, investigated the relationship between high-sugar food consumption and breast cancer risk.

Researchers analysed data from 71,264 women participating in the Korean Health Examinees (HEXA) study. Participants provided information about their dietary habits, including consumption of sugary drinks, cakes, cookies, sweets, ice cream and sugary cereals.

During an average follow-up period of 9.2 years, 713 women were diagnosed with breast cancer.

The findings revealed that women consuming more than two servings of high-sugar foods weekly had a 28% higher risk of breast cancer compared with those consuming one serving per month or less.

Importantly, women in the highest quarter of sugar intake from these foods also showed a 28% higher risk compared with those in the lowest quarter.

Researchers observed that eating ice cream at least once weekly was associated with a 26% higher breast cancer risk, although this finding was borderline statistically significant.

Similarly, consuming sugary cereals at least once every two months was associated with a 34% higher risk compared with never consuming them.

Interestingly, total dietary sugar intake, sugar from fruits, and overall fruit consumption showed no statistically significant association with breast cancer risk.

Researchers suggested that the source of dietary sugar and the characteristics of processed foods may be more relevant than total sugar intake alone.

However, the observational study could not establish that sugary foods directly cause breast cancer.

The findings highlight a possible association between frequent consumption of certain sugar-rich processed foods and breast cancer risk.

REFERENCE: Shin, W.-K., Lee, H., Huang, D., De la Torre, K., Min, S., Choi, J.-Y., Shin, A., Han, W., Lee, J. E., & Kang, D. (2026). High-sugar foods and breast cancer risk from the Health Examinees study. European Journal of Nutrition, 65(8), Article 291. DOI:10.1007/s00394-026-04134-0