Coffee May Lower Risk of Lethal Prostate Cancer

Coffee contains a number of beneficial compounds that act as antioxidants, reduce inflammation, and regulate insulin, and previous studies have associated coffee with a lower risk of Parkinson's disease, type 2 diabetes, gallstone disease, and liver cancer or cirrhosis. Lorelei Mucci, from Harvard School of Public Health (Massachusetts, USA), and colleagues examined the association between coffee consumption and the risk of prostate cancer, particularly the risk for aggressive prostate cancer among 47,911 U.S. men in the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study who reported their coffee consumption every four years from 1986 to 2008. During the study period, 5,035 cases of prostate cancer were reported, including 642 fatal or metastatic cases. The researchers found that men who consumed the most coffee (six or more cups daily) had nearly a 20% lower risk of developing any form of prostate cancer.  Importantly, the inverse association with coffee was even stronger for aggressive prostate cancer. Men who drank the most coffee had a 60% lower risk of developing lethal prostate cancer. Noting that the reduction in risk was seen whether the men drank decaffeinated or regular coffee, and does not appear to be due to caffeine, the team observed that drinking one to three cups of coffee per day was associated with a 30% lower risk of lethal prostate cancer. They conclude that: “We observed a strong inverse association between coffee consumption and risk of lethal prostate cancer. The association appears to be related to non-caffeine components of coffee.”