Your morning brew could help you avoid head and neck cancer
Embargoed until:
Publicly released:
2024-12-23 19:01
Drinking tea or coffee has been linked with lower risks of developing head and neck cancer by international researchers. To find this out, the researchers analysed 14 previous studies that included around 9500 people with cancer and close to 15,800 without, and looked into their hot leaf or bean soup habits. They say people who drank more than four cups of caffeinated coffee daily had 17% lower odds of having head and neck cancer overall, 30% lower odds of having mouth cancer, and 22% lower odds of having throat cancer, compared to their coffee-less peers. Drinking decaf or tea was also linked to lower odds of these cancers, but in lower percentages than the caffeine-filled coffee. This kind of study cannot directly prove that sipping on your morning brew will protect you from these cancers (but why not have another good reason to support your coffee obsession).
Journal/conference: CANCER
Research: Paper
Organisation/s: University of Utah School of Medicine, and
Huntsman Cancer Institute, USA
Funder: The INHANCE Pooled Data Project was funded by grants
from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Cancer Institute
(NCI) (R03CA113157), and National Institute of Dental and
Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) (R03DE01661). Individual studies
were funded by the following grants: 1) Milan study (1984–1989):
Italian Association for Research on Cancer (AIRC); 2) France study:
Swiss League against Cancer (KFS1069‐09‐2000), Fribourg League
against Cancer (FOR381.88), Swiss Cancer Research (AKT 617), and
Gustave‐Roussy Institute (88D28); 3) Italy multicenter study: Italian
Association for Research on Cancer (AIRC), Italian League Against
Cancer and Italian Ministry of Research; 4) Switzerland study: Swiss
League against Cancer and the Swiss Research against Cancer/
Oncosuisse (KFS‐700, OCS‐1633); 5) Saarland study: Ministry of
Science, Research and Arts Baden‐Wurttemberg; 6) France 2001–
2007 (ICARE): French National Research Agency (ANR), French
National Cancer Institute (INCA), French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety (ANSES), French
Institute for Public Health Surveillance (InVS), Fondation pour la
Recherche Medicale (FRM), Fondation de France, Fondation ARC
pour la Recherche sur le Cancer, French Ministry of Labour (Direction
Generale du Travail), French Ministry of Health (Direction
Generale de la Sante); 7) Milan study (2006–2009): Italian Association
for Research on Cancer (AIRC) and Italian Ministry of Education
(PRIN 2009 X8YCBN); 8) Los Angeles study: NIH (P50CA090388,
R01DA011386, R03CA077954, T32CA009142, U01CA096134, and
R21ES011667), and the Alper Research Program for Environmental
Genomics of the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center; 9)
Boston study: NIH (R01CA078609 and R01CA100679); 10) US
multicenter study: The Intramural Program of the NCI, NIH, United
States; 11) MSKCC study: NIH (R01CA051845); 12) Seattle‐LEO
study: NIH (R01CA030022); 13) Buffalo study: N/A; and 14)
Puerto Rico study: jointly funded by National Institutes of Health
(NCI) US and NIDCR intramural programs.
Media release
From: Wiley
Can drinking coffee or tea help prevent head and neck cancer?
Pooled analysis of numerous studies suggests a potentially protective effect.
In a recent analysis of data from more than a dozen studies, coffee and tea consumption was linked with lower risks of developing head and neck cancer, including cancers of the mouth and throat. The findings are published by Wiley online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society.
Head and neck cancer is the seventh most common cancer worldwide, and rates are rising in low- and middle-income countries. Many studies have assessed whether drinking coffee or tea is associated with head and neck cancer, with inconsistent results.
To provide additional insight, investigators examined data from 14 studies by different scientists associated with the International Head and Neck Cancer Epidemiology consortium, a collaboration of research groups around the globe. Study participants completed questionnaires about their prior consumption of caffeinated coffee, decaffeinated coffee, and tea in cups per day/week/month/year.
When investigators pooled information on 9,548 patients with head and neck cancer and 15,783 controls without cancer, they found that compared with non-coffee-drinkers, individuals who drank more than 4 cups of caffeinated coffee daily had 17% lower odds of having head and neck cancer overall, 30% lower odds of having cancer of the oral cavity, and 22% lower odds of having throat cancer. Drinking 3–4 cups of caffeinated coffee was linked with a 41% lower risk of having hypopharyngeal cancer (a type of cancer at the bottom of the throat).
Drinking decaffeinated coffee was associated with 25% lower odds of oral cavity cancer. Drinking tea was linked with 29% lower odds of hypopharyngeal cancer. Also, drinking 1 cup or less of tea daily was linked with a 9% lower risk of head and neck cancer overall and a 27% lower risk of hypopharyngeal cancer, but drinking more than 1 cup was associated with 38% higher odds of laryngeal cancer.
“While there has been prior research on coffee and tea consumption and reduced risk of cancer, this study highlighted their varying effects with different sub-sites of head and neck cancer, including the observation that even decaffeinated coffee had some positive impact,” said senior author Yuan-Chin Amy Lee, PhD, of Huntsman Cancer Institute and the University of Utah School of Medicine. “Coffee and tea habits are fairly complex, and these findings support the need for more data and further studies around the impact that coffee and tea can have on reducing cancer risk.”
