Lower Endometrial Cancer Risk for Coffee Drinkers

by healthypages on 07/02/2012 - 07:47 am |

A study discovered that women who drink coffee can reduce their endometrial cancer risk by 25%. The study was conducted by Harvard University researchers and was published by the American Association for Cancer Research in their Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention journal.

This research adds to the number of health conditions that regular coffee drinking has been found to help. On that list are Alzheimer’s disease, brain tumors, type 2 diabetes and multiple sclerosis. This is despite the fact that many people experience palpitations or jitters from drinking coffee.

Endometrial cancer occurs in the uterus lining where the fetus would exist while in development. In most cases the cancer grows from the adenocarcinoma cells which are responsible for producing and releasing a number of fluids such as mucous into the uterus. There are likely to be well over 46,000 endometrial cancer cases diagnosed in the US in this coming year say the National Institutes of Health’s National Cancer Institute.

The Harvard study was conducted using data drawn from the Nurses Health Study that took place over a 26 year period and involved 67,470 women. During that time the endometrial cancer cases amounted to 627. When comparing the data with other variables the researchers discovered that the coffee drinking women were 25% less likely to develop the cancer compared to the others. They did need to be drinking over 4 cups a day however.

If the women only drank two to three cups of coffee a day, the risk was only reduced by 7%. If they had one cup a day there was no risk reduction experienced

The researchers believed the coffee worked by affecting the insulin and estrogen function in the body. Both have already been linked to chronic disease risk.

The researchers emphasised that the best way to reduce endometrial cancer risk was through regular exercise and keeping the weight down. Additionally if the women had too much sugar and cream in their coffee that reduced the benefit gained.