A new Japanese study suggests that drinking coffee may reduce a person’s risk of developing oral cancers.
The Japanese consume relatively high amounts of coffee, and Japanese men also experience comparatively high incidences of esophageal cancer. Dr. Toru Naganuma of Tohoku University, Sendai, and his colleagues wanted to examine whether the consumption of coffee provided any protective effects from these cancers.
They analyzed data from the population-based Miyagi Cohort Study in Japan, which included information about diet, including coffee consumption. Of the more than 38,000 participants, all of which were aged 40 to 64 years with no prior history of cancer, 157 cases of cancer of the mouth, pharynx and esophagus occurred during 13 years of follow up.
The researchers found that those who drank one or more daily cups of coffee had a 50 percent reduced risk of these cancers compared with those who did not drink coffee. Furthermore, the reduction in risk applied to all participants, including those who were current drinkers and/or smokers at the start of the study and were therefore at higher risk for these cancers.
“We had not expected that we could observe such a substantial inverse association with coffee consumption and the risk of these cancers, and the inverse association in high-risk groups for these cancers as well,” Naganuma said in an interview with Reuters.
“Although cessation of alcohol consumption and cigarette smoking is currently the best known way to help reduce the risk of developing these cancers, coffee could be a preventive factor in both low-risk and high-risk populations,” the researchers wrote in a report about their study, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, December 15, 2008.
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