Drinking Coffee Lowers Skin Cancer Risk

BOSTONDrinking three or more cups of coffee each day reduces the risk of developing basal cell carcinoma (BCC) by 20% in women and 9% in men, compared with people who consume less than one cup per month, according to new research presented at the 10th AACR International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research.

Given the nearly 1 million new cases of BCC diagnosed each year in the United States, daily dietary factors with even small protective effects may have great public health impact," said researcher Fengju Song, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow in the department of dermatology at Brigham and Womens Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Our study indicates that coffee consumption may be an important option to help prevent BCC."

Researchers examined data from 72,921 participants in the Nurses Health Study (1984-2008) and 39,976 participants in the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study (1986-2008). The researchers reported 25,480 incident skin cancer cases. Of those, 22,786 were basal cell carcinoma; 1,953 were squamous cell carcinoma; and 741 were melanoma.

The amount of coffee consumption was inversely associated with BCC risk. Those in the highest quintile had the lowest risk, with an 18% reduction for women and a 13% reduction for men. Decaffeinated coffee consumption was not associated with decreased risk, and coffee consumption was not related to squamous cell carcinoma and melanoma.