Coffee could reduce skin cancer risk

This isn’t the first story on World Coffee Press that covers a potential health benefit of coffee, nor will it be the last. But this piece is certainly one of the most interesting that we have covered in a while.

Scientists from the United States National Cancer Institute have discovered that those who drink four or more cups of coffee per day are, on average, twenty percent less likely to contract malignant melanoma than those who shy away from a daily brew.

Melanoma is an aggressive form of skin cancer that spreads beyond the top layer of skin. This can be brought about via exposure to ultraviolet radiation from sunlight or from artificial sources such as sunbeds.

A total of 447,357 people were monitored over a period of, roughly, ten years, with 2,904 developing melanoma.

A further 1,874 people had contracted an early-stage form of the cancer.

Every participant’s diet was monitored during the length of the study, as was the amount of coffee that they would, typically, consume.

The scientists then factored in how much UV each person would have been exposed to, basing their assumptions on NASA-provided data. They also took into account further potential factors such as alcohol intake and frequency of exercise.

After sifting through the vast wealth of data, it was determined that there was a correlation between the average amount of coffee drunk and the risk of developing this particular form of skin cancer.

These findings build upon work conducted by Dr. Ernest Abel in 2007 which found that rates of non-melanoma skin cancer fell with an increase in coffee consumption.

Interestingly though, the risk reduction was only prevalent for those who drank caffeinated coffee. The research team could find no significant evidence to suggest that decaffeinated versions had this particular health benefit, leading Jiali Han, from the Harvard Medical School, to conclude that “the protective effect is [most likely] due to caffeine.”