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#Post#: 1258--------------------------------------------------
Coffee drinking may protect against a couple of cancers but don'
t drink it too hot
By: agate Date: June 18, 2016, 6:44 pm
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Medical experts keep changing their minds. After years of
rumblings about a possible carcinogenic effect of cancer, now
the word is that coffee drinking might actually protect people
against a couple of types of cancer. However, drinking any
beverage when it's too hot might be linked to esophageal cancer.
From the New York Times, June 15, 2016:
[quote]Coffee May Protect Against Cancer, W.H.O. Concludes
By ANAHAD O'CONNOR
An influential panel of experts convened by the World Health
Organization concluded on Wednesday that regularly drinking
coffee could protect against at least two types of cancer, a
decision that followed decades of research pointing to the
beverage’s many health benefits. The panel also said there was a
lack of evidence that it might cause other types of cancer.
The announcement marked a rare reversal for the panel, which had
previously described coffee as “possibly carcinogenic” in 1991
and linked it to bladder cancer. But since then a large body of
research has portrayed coffee as a surprising elixir, finding
lower rates of heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, neurological
disorders and several cancers in those who drink it regularly.
In their report, the scientists did identify one surprising risk
for coffee and tea drinkers. They said that drinking “very hot”
beverages was “probably carcinogenic,” because the practice was
linked to esophageal cancer in some studies.
Much of the evidence for coffee’s health benefits stems from
large epidemiological studies, which cannot prove cause and
effect. But the favorable findings on coffee consumption have
been so consistent across numerous studies in recent years that
many health authorities have endorsed it as part of a healthy
diet.
Last year, a panel of scientists that shaped the federal
government’s 2015 dietary guidelines said there was “strong
evidence” that three to five cups of coffee daily was not
harmful, and that “moderate” consumption might reduce chronic
disease. Another group, the World Cancer Research Fund
International, reported that coffee protects against multiple
types of cancer. And several systematic reviews of studies
involving millions of people have found that regular coffee
drinkers live longer than others.
In its report, published Wednesday in Lancet Oncology, the World
Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on
Cancer said it had assembled a team of 23 international
scientists who reviewed more than 1,000 studies. The agency said
the evidence showed that drinking coffee was unlikely to cause
several types of cancer, including breast, prostate and
pancreatic cancers, and that it was associated with a lower risk
of uterine and liver cancers. For 20 other types of cancer there
was “inadequate” evidence of a link to cancer, said Dana Loomis,
the deputy head of the agency’s program that classifies
carcinogens and the first author of the report.
Decades ago, the group listed coffee as a “possible carcinogen”
– along with lead and diesel fuel – because of studies that
suggested a weak link to bladder and pancreatic cancer. But
those early studies did not adequately account for higher
smoking rates among coffee drinkers and, since then, more
rigorous and better-quality studies have become available, Dr.
Loomis said. “There is less of a concern today than there was
before,” he added.
In its report, the group cited evidence, for example, that
coffee drinkers’ risk of liver cancer decreases 15 percent “for
each one cup per day increment.” Still, the group did not give
coffee a ringing endorsement. It placed coffee in its Group 3
category for things with “inadequate” evidence of carcinogenic
potential, such as fluoride, low frequency electric fields, and
toluene, a solvent used to make nail polish.
Geoffrey Kabat, a cancer epidemiologist at the Albert Einstein
College of Medicine in New York, said he felt that the agency
did not go far enough in its report. He said that coffee had
been studied in populations across the globe and that studies
now show a clear lack of evidence of harm. He said the agency
tends to give greater weight to studies showing harm, even when
they are outnumbered by many more showing benefit.
“What the evidence shows over all is that coffee drinking is
associated with either reduced risk of several cancers or
certainly no clear increase in other cancers,” he said. “There’s
a strong signal that this is probably not something that we need
to be worrying about.”
Since 1971, the cancer research agency has evaluated nearly
1,000 environmental and lifestyle factors to determine the
extent to which they can promote cancer. About 120 have been
categorized as carcinogenic to humans, including asbestos,
cigarettes and plutonium. Other things it has classified as
carcinogenic include wood dust, salted fish and processed meats
such as bacon, ham and hot dogs.
But the agency’s reports have at times been controversial.
Critics have called the agency’s ranking system arcane and
confusing because it classifies things according to the strength
of the overall research, not their actual level of danger. Dr.
Kabat said the assessment system was useful for cancer
researchers but that it served no utility for the public.
“I really feel that it’s not contributing to the public good
because it’s stoking these concerns,” he said.
Still, the news on coffee is likely to be welcomed by many
Americans – about 130 million of whom drink coffee every day.
Around the world, more than 1.6 billion cups of coffee are
consumed daily, making it one of the world’s most popular drinks
behind tea.
The agency said it was not clear why coffee seems to protect
against at least two types of cancers. But it noted that
drinking coffee produced “strong antioxidant effects” in
clinical trials, and that it promoted the death of cancer cells
in laboratory studies.
The report’s concerns about “very hot” beverages included
mention of mate, a type of tea traditionally consumed in South
America, the Middle East and some parts of Europe, often at high
temperatures. The agency said that regular consumption of
beverages hotter than 149 degrees Fahrenheit was “probably
carcinogenic” based on a small number of studies showing a link
between the practice and esophageal cancer.
One reason is that, over time, scalding hot beverages may injure
cells that line the throat, setting the stage for rare cancers.
But Dr. Loomis cautioned that the increased risk was seen in
people who regularly drink their tea or mate at very high
temperatures, typically at 158 degrees Fahrenheit or greater.
That is very different from the average tea or coffee drinker in
the United States and Europe, where coffee is generally consumed
at temperatures below 140 degrees Fahrenheit. It is also an
issue that can be easily avoided.
“Those who are concerned should just wait a few minutes more
before drinking their drink,” Dr. Loomis said.[/quote]
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