Study: 4 Cups of Coffee A Day Reduces Melanoma Risk by 20%
Higher levels of coffee consumption were linked to modest decreases in melanoma risk, according to a recent study.
In order to explore the potential effects of coffee on the risk of melanoma, researchers evaluated 447,357 cancer-free individuals who participated in the National Institute of Health-AARP prospective cohort study. During a follow-up for 4,329,044 person-years 2904 incident cases of malignant melanoma was observed. 1,2
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
RELATED CONTENT
Should You Be Drinking More Or Less Coffee?
A Cup of Coffee A Day Keeps the Doctor Away
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Overall, investigators found that the higher levels of coffee consumption were inversely associated with malignant melanoma risk, with individuals who consumed 4 or more cups of coffee a day having a 20% lower risk of developing the disease. 1,2
The association was significant for caffeinated coffee, but not statistically significant for decaffeinated coffee.1
The complete study is published in the January issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
-Michelle Canales
References:
1. Loftfield E, Freedman ND, Graubard BI, et al. Coffee drinking and cutaneous melanoma risk in the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2015 January [epub ahead of print] doi: 10.1093/jnci/dju421.
2. Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Coffee may be associated with a lower risk of malignant melanoma. January 2015. http://jnci.oxfordjournals.org/content/107/2/djv013.full. Accessed January 22, 2015.