Drinking coffee and tea might not just perk you up but also lower the risk of head and neck cancers, according to global research pooling data from over 25,000 individuals.
Caffeinated coffee significantly reduced the odds of various cancers, including those of the oral cavity and throat, with decaf and tea showing intriguing, albeit complex, benefits. This underscores the potential of daily habits in influencing health outcomes, though more studies are needed to unravel the nuances.
Coffee and Tea: Surprising Cancer-Fighting Allies?
A recent analysis of data from over a dozen studies found that drinking coffee and tea is associated with a reduced risk of developing head and neck cancers, including cancers of the mouth and throat. These findings were published today (December 23) in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society.
Head and neck cancer is the seventh most common cancer globally, with cases increasing in low- and middle-income countries. While many studies have explored whether coffee or tea consumption affects the risk of these cancers, the results have often been inconsistent.
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.
Coffee and Tea’s Diverse Impacts on Cancer Risks
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.
The Need for More Research
“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.”
Reference: “Coffee and tea consumption and the risk of head and neck cancer: An updated pooled analysis in the International Head and Neck Cancer Epidemiology Consortium” by Timothy Nguyen, Alzina Koric, Chun-Pin Esther Chang, Christine Barul, Loredana Radoi, Diego Serraino, Mark P. Purdue, Karl T. Kelsey, Michael D. McClean, Eva Negri, Valeria Edefonti, Kirsten Moysich, Zuo-Feng Zhang, Hal Morgenstern, Fabio Levi, Thomas L. Vaughan, Carlo La Vecchia, Werner Garavello, Richard B. Hayes, Simone Benhamou, Stimson P. Schantz, Guo-Pei Yu, Hermann Brenner, Shu-Chun Chuang, Paolo Boffetta, Mia Hashibe and Yuan-Chin Amy Lee, 23 December 2024, Cancer.
DOI: 10.1002/cncr.35620
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3 Comments
According to the article above, “…questions for both coffee and tea did not include duration of coffee/tea consumption, concentrations, types of coffee/tea, beverage temperature, and processing techniques.” This is a major oversight, since high temperature of the drink is known to cause esophageal cancer. Concentration of the tea or coffee is also obviously important.
There should be a control group for people who drink hot water, without tea of coffee, but this meta-analysis of other studies does not have that information.
It’s also not clear why antioxidants or other anti-cancer components of these beverages would have an effect on neck and throat cancers, given the short duration that these compounds are exposed to the throat during drinking. We don’t typically consider the throat a place where nutrients are absorbed during drinking or eating. As the quote above states, they did not know the duration of exposure of the epithelium in the throat to these compounds. And since stomach cancer is known to be associated with hot beverage drinking, and the stomach has longer exposure to these compounds once they are swallowed, it raises questions about this theory.
From the study, “We also observed an association between drinking >1 cup of tea daily and an increased risk of laryngeal cancer.” They try to explain this away, but it shows a problem with their theory and study approach.
Coffee is my daily ritual! If you’re passionate about coffee too, https://caffeinatedinsights.com/ has all the tips and tricks for brewing the perfect cup.”
So little data