Could coffee cut cancer risk?

There are all sorts of reasons why people drink coffee. You might drink it as a stimulant or perhaps you do it just to look cool and/or have something to do with your hands. Maybe you are one those iron-willed types who drink it because everyone else is? Whatever your reason for downing a hot water extraction of the beans of Coffea arabica/robusta they probably don’t include reducing your risk of developing mouth or throat cancer but new research suggests that may be exactly what you are doing.

The evidence is that Australia has become a predominantly coffee drinking nation. Despite its recent roots in English culture and the tea drinking that goes with it, a recent BIS Foodservice report has shown that in 2012 for the first time coffee overtook tea as the preferred at-home drink. This reflects a general boom in coffee drinking.

In 2010 1.8 billion cups of coffee were drunk outside the home in Australia but that figure increased to 2.1 billion in 2012. The growth in coffee sales over the next few years is projected by BIS to be at around 10 to 15 per cent annually and as pod type coffee machines increase in popularity they project that by 2020 espresso type coffee sales will exceed that of instant.

The most common reason for people drinking coffee at work was “stimulation” at 43 per cent, followed by “enjoyment” at 34 per cent. Meeting friends remains the main reason people drink coffee away from home and away from work, with 47 per cent of consumers claiming this to be the main reason. However, people who bought coffee for no particular reason increased from 20 per cent in 2010 to 25 per cent in 2012.

It is clear then that people don’t need another reason to drink coffee but a new study from researchers at the American Cancer Society may have provided one.

The researchers used data from the Cancer Prevention Study that started in 1982 and included more than 968,000 men and women. Analysis of the data from the 26 years of the study found an interesting link between coffee consumption and risk of mouth and throat cancer. People who drank four cups of coffee a day were 49 per cent less likely to die from mouth or throat cancer.

It has been suggested that it might be the antioxidants in coffee that have this effect but there was a much diminished link with decaffeinated coffee and no relationship with tea drinking. Presumably decaf coffee would have the same antioxidant profile as caffeinated coffee and tea is a rich source of antioxidants. This all suggests that it might be something to do with the caffeine in coffee that is causing the association.

The other thing that needs to be said is that drinking four cups of coffee a day gets you into a zone where you are consuming levels of caffeine that aren’t so good for your heart and stress levels. To make the darkest possible interpretation, perhaps drinking four cups of coffee a day means you are less likely to live long enough to get mouth or throat cancer?

It’s all conjecture at this stage and even the researchers say they are not recommending four cups of coffee per day. Still, it’s intriguing news for coffee drinkers and, judging by the stats, that’s most of us these days.