Coffee drinkers have a significantly lower risk of developing colon cancer again, according to fresh research.
An observational study of 1,719 people in the Netherlands found that colon cancer patients who drank at least two cups of coffee a day were less likely to have their disease return in the future. Drinking several cups a day also seemed to reduce the risk of early death.
This included patients with all stages of colorectal cancer, except the last stage, which was excluded from the analysis.
Nowadays, colon cancer returns after treatment even in 30 percent of patientswhich means that if the latest findings from the Netherlands are confirmed in larger-scale studies, coffee could one day be considered a life-changing drug for some cancer patients.
Compared with colon cancer patients who drank less than two cups of coffee a day, those in the study who drank at least five cups a day had a 32 percent lower risk of disease recurrence over the next six years.
During the same period, there was also a noticeable link between the amount of coffee a patient drank and their risk of dying from any cause, according to an international research team led by scientists from Wageningen University in the Netherlands.
Three to five cups of coffee a day was associated with the greatest reduction in all-cause mortality, peaking at about 29 percent compared with those drinking less than two cups. But the peak declined after drinking more than five cups a day.
The results suggest that drinking as much coffee as possible does not improve cancer patients’ chances and may even have negative effects on other aspects of their health. There seems to be a middle ground to strive for.
A study conducted in the Netherlands is one of the first to examine the effect of coffee drinking on the rate of relapse in colon cancer patients, not just their survival.
The only other one test study found no link between coffee drinking and cancer recurrence. However, the study focused only on patients with stage III colon cancer, while a recent study from the Netherlands looked at colon cancers in stages I to III.
Unfortunately, specific causes of death could not be assessed from the available data, so it is not possible to say whether survival rates among coffee drinkers in the Netherlands reduce the risk of dying from colon cancer specifically or whether there is some other protective effect.
Some studies, for example, have linked coffee’s powerful antioxidant properties to better cardiovascular outcomes. Other research suggests the drink may protect against some types of skin cancer, liver cancer, uterine cancer, prostate cancer, and even oral cancer.
Most studies to date have been purely observational, but the link between coffee and longer lifespan has also been found in many other parts of the world.
2018 test for example, in the US, it was found that patients with colon disease who consumed more than four cups of coffee a day had a 30 percent lower risk of death from any cause compared with people who did not drink coffee at all.
The same study also found that drinking more than four cups of coffee a day reduced the risk of death by up to 54 percent among patients with any stage of colon cancer, including the most advanced cases.
“Our findings for all-cause mortality were similar…” to write Oyelere and colleagues, “regardless of potential differences in coffee preparation and serving techniques.”
For example, a standard cup of coffee in the Netherlands is half the size of what you would find in the US.
Perhaps coffee has such powerful therapeutic effects because it activates metabolic pathways that reduce oxidative stress. Or perhaps it alters the gut microbiome to somehow prevent cancer from proliferating in the gut. Boosting liver power may be another way coffee improves the body’s fight against cancer.
Further research is needed.
The study was published in International Cancer Journal.
