People with bowel cancer who drink two to four cups of coffee a day are much less likely to have their disease return, research shows.
People with the disease who consume this amount are also much less likely to die from any cause, the study found, suggesting coffee helps people diagnosed with the Kingdom’s second deadliest cancer -United.
Experts said the results were “promising” and speculated that, if further studies showed the same effect, the 43,000 Britons diagnosed with bowel cancer each year could be encouraged to drink coffee . The disease causes around 16,500 deaths per year, or 45 per day.
A study of 1,719 bowel cancer patients in the Netherlands by Dutch and British researchers found that those who drank two or more cups of coffee had a lower risk of disease recurrence. The effect was dose-dependent: those who drank the most saw their risk decrease the most.
Patients who drank five or more cups a day were 32% less likely than those who drank fewer than two cups to have their bowel cancer return, according to the paper funded by the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) and which was studied. published in the International Journal of Cancer.
Likewise, higher levels of coffee consumption also appear to be closely linked to a person’s chances of survival.
Again, those who drank at least two cups a day had a lower risk of dying than those who didn’t. And, as with the risk of recurrence, those who drank at least five cups saw their likelihood of dying decrease the most – by 29%.
Britons drink around 95 million cups of coffee a day.
Research team leader Dr Ellen Kampman, professor of nutrition and disease at Wageningen University in the Netherlands, said the disease recurred in one in five people diagnosed and could be fatal.
“It is fascinating that this study suggests that drinking three to four cups of coffee could reduce bowel cancer recurrence.”
However, she stressed that the team found a strong association between regular coffee consumption and the disease rather than a causal relationship between the two.
“However, we hope that this finding is real because it seems to depend on the dose: the more coffee you drink, the greater the effect,” she added.
The study is the latest to show that coffee reduces the risk of cancer. There is already strong evidence that it reduces the risk of liver and uterine cancer, and some evidence indicates that it does the same for cancers of the mouth, pharynx, larynx and skin. It is also already associated with a lower risk of developing bowel cancer.
Professor Marc Gunter, co-author of the study and chair of cancer epidemiology and prevention at Imperial College London’s school of public health, said the findings were “very provocative because “We don’t really understand why coffee would have such an effect.” in patients with bowel cancer.
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He added: “But they are also promising because they could pave the way for a way to improve the prognosis and survival of patients with bowel cancer.
“Coffee contains hundreds of biologically active compounds that have antioxidant properties and may protect against bowel cancer.
“Coffee also reduces inflammation and insulin levels – which have been linked to the development and progression of bowel cancer – and may have potentially beneficial effects on the gut microbiome.
“However, we need further research to delve deeper into the biology of why coffee might have such an effect on bowel cancer prognosis and survival.”
The WCRF identified chlorogenic acid, also found in kale, as an agent that could provide a key part of the explanation due to its role in managing glucose levels in the body and in the regulation of insulin levels.
The emergence of coffee as a potential protector against cancer is remarkable because until 2016, the World Health Organization classified it as “potentially carcinogenic.” before changing your mind because the evidence did not exist to support this.