Your Cup of Joe: Could it Ward Off Cancers?

Your Cup of Joe: Could it Ward Off Cancers?

Already this month, two studies have published in prominent cancer research journals suggesting that your daily cup(s) of joe could play a role in keeping certain cancers at bay.

Specifically, the first study – published in Breast Cancer Research – showed that Swedish women who drank five or more mugs of coffee per day enjoyed a 57 reduction in risk for a certain type of breast cancer (estrogen-receptor negative breast cancer). And another study – this time in American men, appearing in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute – linked drinking a six or more cups daily with a 60 percent lesser risk for lethal prostate cancer.

But don’t run for a refill just yet, says cancer epidemiologist Dr. Susan Fisher. There’s a lot we’ve yet to learn about exactly why coffee seems to cut risk for certain cancers. And until we have more studies that definitively pinpoint particular substances in coffee that might be beneficial, we shouldn’t dramatically change our drinking habits, she warns.

To hear Dr. Fisher discuss these coffee-cancer studies in more detail, watch the clip below.

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Dr. Fisher’s research focuses on the investigation of strategies to improve the primary prevention and early detection of cancer in the community. She has completed studies related to the participation of minority women in cancer control trials, and to factors associated with health behaviors of women at high risk of hereditary breast cancer. Dr. Fisher has also been involved in the development and conduct of several multi-institutional clinical trials.

You can learn more about clinical trials underway at URMC by clicking here.

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*  The above story is adapted from materials provided by University of Rochester Medical Center

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