Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health disclosed in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, that men who drink coffee on a regular basis have a greater decreased chance for the development of a more aggressive form of prostate cancer. This new study comes after another one just last week that had associated regular coffee consumption with a decreased risk of a particular type of breast cancer.
Prostate cancer ranks second among cancers that led to the cessation of life; the number one cancer is lung cancer. Two million male men are cancer survivors with a total of 16 million male survivors worldwide.
Several compounds are found in coffee and these compounds regulate insulin, decrease inflammation and act as antioxidants. All of these are considered to provide benefits in regard to the risk of prostate cancer. Therefore the scientists set about studying these beneficial effects.
Coffee has also been associated with decreased risks of developing Type 2 diabetes, gallstone and Parkinson’s disease, cirrhosis of the liver and liver cancer.
Researchers had collected information on 47,911 American males from the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study. That database included coffee consumption habits from 1986 to 2008. There were 5,035 prostate cancer cases reported during that time and among those 642 cases were aggressive or fatal.
Researchers had discovered that males who had consumed a minimum of six cups of coffee each day had nearly a 20% decreased risk for the development of any type of prostate cancer. Those who did consume those six cups or more each day had a 60% decreased chance of developing an aggressive or lethal form of prostate cancer.
Also, determined was the fact that the risk reduction had remained the same regardless of the coffee being caffeinated or decaffeinated.
Those males who had consumed one to three cups a day had shown a 30% less chance of developing lethal prostate cancer.
Researchers are attributing this fact to the antioxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds which are found in coffee.
Researchers did add in conclusion that further validation studies are required to validate these findings. If validation does occur then regular coffee consumption should be added to the list of benefits for reducing the risks of prostate cancer.