What is the relationship between coffee and cancer?

Over the years, many studies have been conducted to examine coffee consumption as it relates to cancer risk. This article presents a slide show of research on coffee in glioma, head and neck cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma, prostate cancer, colorectal cancer, breast cancer, melanoma, and endometrial cancer. A study conducted by researchers in the United Kingdom found that adults who consumed ≥5 cups of coffee or tea per day had a 40% reduced risk of being diagnosed with glioma (relative risk = 0.60; 95% CI, 0.41 to 0.87; P = 0.04). Researchers examined 335 glioma cases from three cohort studies, and coffee and tea intake was assessed at baseline and during follow-up using a food frequency questionnaire. No correlation was found for caffeine-free coffee or tea. An International Society for the Epidemiology of Head and Neck Cancer study found that consumption of four cups of caffeinated coffee per day was associated with a 39% reduced risk of pharyngeal and oropharyngeal cancer (ratio ratio = 0.61; 95% CI, 0.47 to 0.80). Researchers pooled data from nine case-control studies of head and neck cancer, including 5,139 cases and 9,028 controls. The analysis did not find a correlation with laryngeal cancer. There were insufficient data on caffeine-free coffee intake. Higher coffee consumption results in a lower risk of progression to hepatocellular carcinoma, the most common type of liver cancer. Coffee consumers who consumed 1 to 3 cups per day had a 29% lower risk of progression to hepatocellular carcinoma. Those who consumed ≥4 cups of coffee per day had a 42% reduction in risk compared to those who consumed an average of ≤1 cup of coffee per day. The prospective study included nearly 180,000 men and women. The association between coffee consumption and liver cancer was independent of age, sex, race, body mass index, smoking or alcohol consumption, diabetes, and hepatitis virus infection. The researchers also investigated whether there was an association between coffee and tea intake before diagnosis and the risk of prostate cancer recurrence/progression. Patterns of coffee and tea consumption were assessed during the 2 years prior to diagnosis. Prostate cancer-specific prognosis was investigated at follow-up by a median follow-up of 6.4 years. One hundred and forty cases of recurrence/progression of prostate cancer were reported. Coffee intake was associated with a reduced risk of prostate cancer recurrence/progression; the adjusted hazard ratio for ≥4 cups/day vs ≤1 cup/week was 0.41. The study did not find an association between tea intake and prostate cancer recurrence/progression. The National Institutes of Health-AARP Diet and Health Study (NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study) followed 489,706 men and women who completed baseline demographic characteristics, diet, and lifestyle questionnaires for a median of 10.5 years. Approximately 16% of participants consumed more than 4 cups of coffee per day. Compared to non-drinkers, 4 to 5 cups and more than 6 cups were associated with a reduced risk of colon cancer, particularly proximal tumors. No association was observed with tea intake. A meta-analysis that included 37 published articles involving 59,018 breast cancer cases and 966,263 participants showed a negative association between coffee/caffeine and breast cancer risk in postmenopausal women, with a strong and significant association for BRCA1 gene mutation carriers. The risk of breast cancer was reduced by 2% (P=0.05) for every two cups/day increment in coffee intake and by 1% (P=0.52) for every 200 mg/day increment in caffeine intake. The researchers found that consumption of ≥4 cups of caffeinated coffee per day resulted in a 20% reduction in the risk of malignant melanoma, using data from a food frequency questionnaire that was part of the National Institutes of Health-AARP prospective cohort study. The reduction in melanoma risk was not associated with caffeine-free coffee. The researchers evaluated whether there was a link between 84 nutrients and foods and endometrial cancer risk, using the results of a dietary questionnaire from three prospective studies. They found that multiple daily cups of coffee may reduce the risk of endometrial cancer in women. In one of the studies, women who consumed three cups of coffee per day had a 19% lower risk of endometrial cancer compared to women who consumed less than one cup of coffee per day. Data from a different study cohort suggested that women who consumed 4 cups of coffee per day had an 18% lower risk of endometrial cancer compared to women who never drank coffee.