Results of a recent review of nine studies add to brewing evidence that drinking coffee protects against cancer, this time against head and neck cancer.

Study participants who drank four or more cups of coffee a day, compared with those who were non-drinkers, had a 39% decreased risk of oral cavity and pharynx cancers combined. On the other hand, tea intake was not associated with head and neck cancer risk.

“Since coffee is so widely used and there is a relatively high incidence and low survival rate of these forms of cancers, our results have important public health implications that need to be further addressed,” notes lead researcher Mia Hashibe, PhD.

“What makes our results so unique is that we had a very large sample size, and since we combined data across many studies, we had more statistical power to detect associations between cancer and coffee,” she adds.

Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention – June 22, 2010;Epub.
cebp.aacrjournals.org