NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – In the general population of Japan, coffee consumption is related to a lower risk of cancer of the oral cavity, pharynx and esophagus, new research indicates.
Such an association “has been suggested in case-control studies, but few results from prospective studies are available,” Dr. Toru Naganuma of Tohoku University, Sendai and colleagues note in the December 15 issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology.
To investigate further, they turned to the population-based prospective Miyagi Cohort Study in Japan, a country where consumption of coffee is relatively high, as is the incidence of esophageal cancer in men.
Among 38,679 subjects aged 40 to 64 years with no prior history of cancer, 157 cases of oral, pharyngeal and esophageal cancers were identified during 13.6 years follow up in 135 men and 22 women.
The multivariate-adjusted hazard ratio for these cancers for 1 or more cups of coffee consumed per day compared with no coffee consumption was 0.51, Dr. Naganuma and colleagues report.
This inverse association between coffee consumption and oral, pharyngeal and esophageal cancer was consistent across the strata of sex and cancer site and was also observed in populations at high risk for these cancers, namely, those who were current drinkers and/or smokers at baseline, the investigators note.
“Since we conducted this study on the hypothesis that coffee would have preventive effect on oral, pharyngeal, and esophageal cancers, the observed associations were approximately consistent with our expectation,” Dr. Naganuma noted in comments to Reuters Health.
“However, we had not expected that we could observe such a substantial inverse association with coffee consumption and the risk of these cancers, and the inverse association in high-risk groups for these cancers (drinkers and smokers) as well,” the researcher added.
“Although cessation of alcohol consumption and cigarette smoking is currently the best known way to help reduce the risk of developing these cancers, coffee could be a preventive factor in both low-risk and high-risk populations,” Dr. Naganuma and colleagues conclude.
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