Will your Coke-a-day habit really cause pancreatic cancer? Will adding a little more chocolate to your diet help prevent strokes? Two studies have received a great deal of press in the last few weeks but how valid are their findings really?

The problem with soda pop – Most soft drinks are loaded with sweeteners and sugars. Even the new “healthier” versions of soda made with old fashioned real sugar are loaded with the stuff. The human pancreas is there to produce insulin whenever the body needs to process sugars, so the sudden influx of twelve ounces worth of really sweet stuff can send it into instant overdrive.

The study that made the news was conducted by researchers from the University of Minnesota, who followed 60,000 Chinese citizens and found a link between study participants who drank large quantities of soda and increased incidence of pancreatic cancer. They theorized that high doses of sugar put stress on the individuals’ pancreas and in turn lead to inflammation which leads to an increased risk of developing pancreatic cancer.

According to the study, drinking just two sodas a week increased the risk of developing pancreatic cancer by 87%. But this is a rare disease, so 87% is not as big a number as it sounds. However it is one of the worst forms of cancer, killing most of its victims within a couple of years, so taking good care of the pancreas is something we all need to think about.

Eating chocolate is good for me? – "Yes" was the answer coming from a study conducted by researchers at McMaster University in Ontario. Dark chocolate, anyway. Their study showed that dark chocolate lowers your risk of stroke, and lessens the likelihood of death after a stroke as well. But it's not the actual chocolate that does the trick, it is the flavonoid called epicatechin found in the cocoa beans from which the chocolate is made. The way that milk chocolate is processed reduces the amount present in the final product, so that handful of M&Ms does not count.

The lesson to learn from both of these studies is moderation. If you must treat yourself to a soda once a week, the rest of the time stick to juice and milk, or better yet, water. And as an afternoon treat go ahead and allow yourself a two inch square of dark chocolate a day, but stick to fruit for a sweet treat the rest of the day.