New study finds coffee consumption in women lowered risk of endometrial cancer
09 Feb 2015
Many studies have pointed to the health benefits of coffee consumption. Now, A new study has furthered these results to demonstrate that four cups of coffee (or more) per day could help to lower risk of developing endometrial cancer by as much as 18 per cent, in women,www.piercepioneer.com reported.
In the study, researchers looked at the diets of nearly 3,000 women who had already been diagnosed with some health problems and the study actually found that at least in the women, those who drank at least four cups of coffee per day every day, could have this reduced risk.
According to study leader Melissa Meritt, they also looked at 83 other foods to examine their potential health benefits. According to the Imperial College London cancer epidemiology research fellow, for most other dietary factors there was no consistent association with endometrial cancer risk.
She added further that the researchers were not surprised by the results that a high versus low intake of coffee was associated with a reduced risk for endometrial cancer, because they were consistent with observations from earlier studies. She added that similar methods were used to investigate the association between coffee intake and endometrial cancer as in the previous studies. This was important to compare results across different studies.
The researchers uncovered a link, but not a cause-and-effect relationship, between coffee drinking and lower risk of endometrial cancer www.cbsnews.com reported. The study also did not differentiate between decaf or regular, so Merritt said she could not comment on whether one was better than the other.
The researchers also could not say with certainty how coffee might lower the cancer risk. However, one possibility was that coffee reduced estrogen levels in the body, changing the balance of hormones, according to Merritt.
If the balance between estrogen and progesterone shifted and leant more toward estrogen, the risk of endometrial cancer increased, according to the American Cancer Society. Other risk factors for endometrial cancer included being overweight and having an early start to periods (before age 12) and a late menopause.
According to Dr Robert Morgan, a professor of medical oncology at the City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center in Duarte, California, the new study was validating other studies showing coffee had a beneficial effect in decreasing endometrial cancer. Dr Morgan was not involved in the new research.
