Long-term coffee drinking may be related to a decrease in risk for endometrial cancer, according to a recent study in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.
Coffee is emerging as a means of defense against cancers linked to obesity, estrogen, and insulin, Edward Giovannucci, MD, ScD, professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health said.
“Coffee has already been shown to be protective against diabetes due to its effect on insulin,” said Giovannucci, a senior researcher on the study. “So we hypothesized that we’d see a reduction in some cancers as well.”
Giovannucci and colleagues studied cumulative coffee consumption in relation to endometrial cancer in 67,470 women enrolled in the Nurses’ Health Study. Over the 26 years of follow-up, 672 cases of endometrial cancer were documented.
Results showed that drinking more than 4 cups of coffee per day was linked with a 25% reduction in endometrial cancer risk. Drinking between 2 and 3 cups per day resulted in a 7% reduced risk.
In decaffeinated coffee, a similar relationship was found. Drinking more than 2 cups of decaffeinated coffee per day reduced endometrial cancer risk by 22%.
Giovannucci said he hopes this study will initiate additional inquiries about the effect of coffee on cancer.
Source: AACR.