Coffee cuts head and neck tumors
Thu, Jun 06 2010
Despite the controversies over the health benefits of coffee, a new study says those who drink lots of the beverage are at a lower risk of certain cancers. Previous studies had linked heavy consumption of coffee with lower rates of kidney, prostate and ovarian cancer. Heavy consumption of the beverage was also associated with decreased risk of gliomas, a fatal brain tumor.

According to the study published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, regular coffee drinkers are 12 percent less likely to develop oral and pharyngeal cancers. Coffee, however, did not affect the risk of larynx malignancies. Drinking large amounts of tea, on the other hand, was not reported to have protective effects against head and neck cancers.

The more coffee an individual drinks, the lower would be his or her risk of developing malignancy. The risk was reported to be cut by one third in those who consumed more than four cups of coffee per day. The beneficial effects of coffee was not diminished in drinkers or smokers, the study found.

"Besides caffeine, coffee contains more than a thousand chemicals," said lead researcher Mia Hashibe, adding that the high content of cafestol and kahweol found in coffee may protect the genes against the damages commonly caused by the carcinogens. 
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