Coffee Drinkers May Have One Less Type Of Cancer To Worry About

Cancer remains as one of the world’s most deadly diseases because it doesn’t just manifest in any part of the body, it also has the knack for growing out of nowhere, plus it spreads so quickly too. Presently, cancer treatments involve chemotherapy and radiation therapy. The combination treatment works for some patients. But for many, even though the treatment may initially work, eventually, the cancer still comes back and when it does, it’s usually in a more aggressive form which quickly becomes fatal.

This is why scientists and researchers have been relentless in their quest to find a more effective and permanent cure for cancer. Just recently, researchers at Johns Hopkins discovered two specific proteins that appear to be responsible for cancer’s metastasis. It’s quite a significant breakthrough and if it goes forward as hoped, it might just be what’s needed to finally stop the disease from progressing and becoming unavoidably lethal.

In the meantime, while scientists continue with their research, it’s up to us to do what we can to minimize our risk of developing cancer. One of the easiest things we can do is to eat foods that are known to have cancer-fighting properties such as green, leafy vegetables; berries; orange-colored fruits and vegetables; nuts; seeds and mushrooms. Experts have also been recommending regular drinking of tea, especially green tea. Now, there’s another drink you can add to that anti-cancer regimen: coffee.

According to the findings of researchers from the University of Edinburgh and University of Southampton, people who regularly drank coffee (even the decaffeinated type) had lesser risk of developing the most common form of liver cancer known as hepatocellular cancer (HCC for short). The results were derived from 26 different studies involving over 2.25 million participants.

Based on the collective data examined, the risk of developing HCC was reduced by 20% for those who drank one cup a day; 35% less for those who drank two cups a day; and 50% for those who drank five cups a day. That’s for regular coffee. For decaffeinated coffee, the protective effect was ‘smaller and less certain’.

To be clear, this study isn’t implying that drinking cup after cup of coffee in a day is alright after all. Remember the adage that anything excessive is bad? Well, this still applies.

True, coffee does provide a number of benefits. For starters, it has pain-killing abilities. Plus, it has been known that it reduces the risk of developing several diseases including heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and Type 2 diabetes. And HCC has just been added to that list.

But it still doesn’t mean you can indulge in unlimited cups of coffee. As one of the researchers — Professor Peter Hayes of the University of Edinburgh — told The Guardian: “We have shown that coffee reduces cirrhosis and also liver cancer in a dose-dependent manner. Coffee has also been reported to reduce the risk of death from many other causes. Our research adds to the evidence that, in moderation, coffee can be a wonderful natural medicine.”

The study was recently published in the journal BMJ Open.

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