2024-03-27 00:54:56
A recent study found that people who suffered from bowel cancer and who drink two to four cups of coffee daily are less likely to have their disease return.
The study showed that people with the disease who consume this amount are also less likely to die from any cause, suggesting that coffee helps those diagnosed with the second largest killer cancer in the United Kingdom, according to The Guardian.
Experts said the results were “promising,” and they expected that if other studies showed the same effect, the 43,000 Britons diagnosed with bowel cancer each year might be encouraged to drink coffee. This disease kills about 16,500 people annually – 45 people every day.
A study of 1,719 bowel cancer patients in the Netherlands – conducted by Dutch and British researchers – found that those who drank at least two cups of coffee had a lower risk of the disease recurring. The effect was dose-dependent – those who drank a larger amount saw a stronger reduction in risk.
Patients who drank at least five cups a day were 32 percent less likely than those who drank less than two cups to have bowel cancer recurrence, according to the study funded by the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) and 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 were less likely to die than those who did not. As with the risk of recurrence, those who drank at least five cups saw their odds of dying reduced by 29 percent.
The head of the research team, Dr. Ellen Kampmann, professor of nutrition and diseases at Wageningen University in the Netherlands, said that the disease returns in one in five people – and it may be fatal.
She continued, “Interestingly, this study indicates that drinking three to four cups of coffee may reduce the recurrence of bowel cancer.”
But she confirmed that the team found a strong relationship between regular consumption of coffee and disease, and not a causal relationship between them. She added, “We hope that the results are real because they appear to depend on the dose. The more coffee you drink, the greater the effect.”
This study is the latest to show that coffee reduces the risk of cancer. There is already strong evidence that coffee reduces the risk of liver and uterine cancer – and it has the same effect for cancers of the mouth, pharynx, larynx and skin.
Professor Mark Gunter, co-author of the study and head of the Department of Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention at the School of Public Health at Imperial College London, said the results were “very encouraging because we don’t really understand why coffee has such an effect in bowel cancer patients.”
He added, “But it is promising because it may indicate a way to improve prognosis and survival among bowel cancer patients… Coffee contains hundreds of biologically active compounds that have antioxidant properties and may be protective against bowel cancer.”
“Coffee also reduces inflammation and insulin levels – which have been linked to the development of bowel cancer – and may have potential beneficial effects on the gut microbiome,” Gunter continued. However, we need more research to delve deeper into the scientific reasons why coffee has such an impact on bowel cancer diagnosis and survival.”
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2024-03-27 00:54:56