Fluke or Trend: Coffee vs Prostate & Other Cancers

Also published 2 weeks ago was a prospective study of 47,911 men in the Health Professions Study followed for at least 20 years.  While the average consumption was just under 2 cups of coffee/day, those who drank >6 cups/day had an 18% lower risk of developing prostate cancer compared to nondrinkers.  And while there was no association between coffee and low grade prostate cancer, those who drank >6 cups/day had a 60% reduction in prostate cancer mortality compared to nondrinkers.

What's this mean for you & me?  Well, remember that this is the first study demonstrating a link, so perhaps this is just a statistical fluke.  On the other hand, in a cohort study published over 2 years ago, a cup or more a day of coffee amongst 38,679 Japanese was associated w/49% reduction in oropharyngeal & esophageal cancers.  Published late last fall, the large-scale cohort study, European Prospective Investigation into Cancer & Nutrition (EPIC) took 8.5 years of follow up to find 343 cases of brain cancer, specifically glioma along w/245 cases of meningioma.  Compared to controls, those who drank more than 100mL of coffee daily had a 34% lower risk of developing cancer.

In contrast, in a study published last summer, there was no difference in colorectal cancer rates between those who drank at least 6 cups of coffee per day compared to those who drank no coffee.

So if you don't already drink & enjoy coffee, I'd wait for another study to come out before purposefully starting to drink coffee for some purported benefit.  But if you do enjoy your morning cuppa joe, then feel free to continue doing so.