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02.03.2017

Biggest meta-study so far: coffee protects against five kinds of cancer

Coffee drinkers are several scores of percent less likely to develop liver cancer, prostate cancer and three other types of cancer than people who don't drink coffee. This finding comes from a prestigious Chinese meta-study that was published in Scientific Reports. However, coffee also seems to increase the chance of developing some types of cancer.

Study
The researchers swept together data from 105 epidemiological cancer studies and reanalysed them.

Results
In the studies that the Chinese dug up, the indications of the protective effect of coffee were strong for liver cancer, prostate cancer and endometrial cancer.

The researchers calculated that drinking 2 cups of coffee daily reduced the likelihood of developing liver cancer by 27 percent, prostate cancer by 3 percent and endometrial cancer by 12 percent.

The figure below summarises the tendencies and relationships that the Chinese uncovered. The table indicates by how many percent coffee drinkers either reduce or increase the chance of developing various types of cancer.

An asterisk * indicates that the relationship is statistically significant. There's an asterisk next to lung cancer, but despite this the researchers are not completely sure whether coffee does indeed increase the chance of developing lung cancer. There is a relationship between drinking coffee and smoking, and the relationship between smoking and lung cancer is undisputed. It is possible that it just appears that there is a relationship between coffee and lung cancer.

Conclusion
"Considering the shortcomings of our research, our conclusions should be carefully considered," the researchers wrote. "Further studies are needed to clarify the potential underlying mechanisms by which coffee intake may reduce cancer risk. Perhaps add that further studies could assess the association among never smokers, particularly for smoking-related lung cancer."

Source:
Sci Rep. 2016 Sep 26;6:33711.

More:
Drink a couple of cups of coffee a day, and live longer 16.09.2016
Every cup of coffee you drink diminishes your chances of prostate cancer (a little) 13.02.2014

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