Coffee: Awakening the Fight Against Oral Cancer

Coffee is one of the most consumed beverages on the planet, which makes the latest study by the American Cancer Society so intriguing for the millions of people who enjoy it on regular basis. As published in last month’s edition of American Journal of Epidemiology, the study concluded that there is in fact a strong association between [caffeinated] coffee consumption and a decreased rate of oral/pharangeal cancer mortality.[1]

This finding was based off a cohort study that started back in the early 1980′s, which analyzed 968,432 people from across the U.S. who were all cancer-free at the start of the study, but at the end of the 26 year follow up, found that 868 of them had eventually succumbed to oral/pharyngeal cancer. Researchers concluded after analyzing their tea and caffeinated/decaffeinated coffee intake, that consuming more than four cups of caffeinated coffee per day was associated with a 49% decrease in risk from dying from this same type of cancer (when compared to zero or minimal consumption).

“Although it is less common in the United States, oral/pharyngeal cancer is among the 10 most common cancers in the world. Our finding strengthens the evidence of a possible protective effect of caffeinated coffee in the etiology and/or progression of cancers of the mouth and pharynx…” stated the lead author of this study—Janet Hildebrand, MPH.[1,2]

She went on to highlight that the combination of antioxidants, polyphenols, and other active elements within this particular beverage may be the biggest conductors of protection against the development and/or progression of this and other cancers.

“Our finding strengthens the evidence of a possible protective effect of caffeinated coffee in the etiology and/or progression of cancers of the mouth and pharynx. It may be of considerable interest to investigate whether coffee consumption can lead to a better prognosis after oral/pharyngeal cancer diagnosis.”

For the other related beverages analyzed in this study, no association was found between tea and a decreased mortality for oral/pharygeal cancer, though a very small link was made between drinking two or more cups of decaffeinated coffee and a reduced risk of this disease.

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• For more information on this topic, check out the article by the Huffington Post at: http://ow.ly/gx9ij
• For U.S. statistics on oral/pharyngeal cancer from the National Cancer Institute, visit: http://ow.ly/gx9rC
• For info on how to treat patients with cancer from an oral health perspective, check out our CE course: http://ow.ly/gx9FZ