Postmenopausal women who drink beverages with added sugar may be more likely to develop cancer of the endometrium, according to a new study.

Researchers found the more sugar-sweetened beverages the women in their study drank, the higher their risk for developing estrogen-dependent endometrial cancer. And women who consumed the highest intake of sugar-sweetened beverages, about 60 servings a week, had a 78 percent increased risk for the cancer, compared with women who didn't drink sugar-sweetened beverages.

The results held after the researchers controlled for other factors that could affect the risk, such as exercise, diabetes, smoking and BMI.

The findings suggest that consuming drinks with added sugar «may be a risk factor for type I endometrial cancer regardless of other lifestyle factors», the researchers wrote in their study.

In the new study, the researchers looked at information from about 23,000 postmenopausal women who reported in 1986 how often they consumed various foods over the past year. The researchers checked in on the women's diets again in 2004, and found they were reasonably correlated, CBS News reports.

By 2010, 506 women were diagnosed with endometrial cancer, most of them with a type that is fueled by the hormone estrogen, called estrogen-dependent type I.

While the study found an association between sugary drinks and endometrial cancer, it remains unclear whether a cause-and-effect relationship may exist. But it is possible that an increased intake of sugar-sweetened beverages contributes to obesity, which in turn increases the cancer risk, the researchers said.

Тhe participants completed a questionnaire that asked about their intake of 127 foods over the previous 12 months.

The diet report included questions about women's usual intake of sugar-sweetened beverages — such as common colas, carbonated beverages and fruit drinks — as well as their intake of sugar-free soft drinks.

In line with previous findings, the results showed that older women, those with higher body mass indexes or diabetes and those who had used estrogen were at higher risk for endometrial cancer.

The researchers didn't find a relationship between cancer risk and sugar-free drinks, or sweet foods such as cakes and candy. It is possible that the way sugar is consumed affects its metabolism, the researchers said.