More Coffee for Him and Her?
Fri, July 1, 2011 at 02:00AM Two recent reports of ‘association studies’ suggest that both men and women may benefit from drinking coffee – but both in a different way.
For men, the news concerns prostate cancer. Long-term data from the Health Professionals Follow-up Study was analyzed by researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health; the findings were published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
Between 1986 and 2006 there were 5,035 new cases of prostate cancer among the 47,911 men in the study; 642 had lethal cancer – it was either fatal or metastatic. Allthe men in the study reported their coffee intake (regular or decaff) every 4 years. The average intake was 1.9 cups a day at baseline.
Men who drank 6 or more cups of coffee a day had a lower risk for prostate cancer, compared with nondrinkers; the risk was 18% lower. If only the lethal forms of cancer were considered, the risk was 60% lower for 6-cups-a-day coffee drinkers vs. nondrinkers. This risk was reduced more for decaffeinated drinkers than for regular coffee drinkers. There was no apparent decrease in non-advanced or low-grade cancer risk for coffee drinkers.
The researchers say it’s premature to recommend that men increase their coffee intake to reduce their risk of advanced prostate cancer, based on this single study.
In women, drinking coffee has been linked to a reduced risk of stroke in a Swedish study. This was published in the journal Stroke.
Researchers from the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, analyzed data from the Swedish Mammography Study. Almost 35,000 women without a history of cardiovascular disease or cancer were followed for an average of just over 10 years. Coffee consumption was assessed at baseline; stroke cases were captured from hospital discharge registries.
After adjusting for known cardiovascular risk factors, education level, body mass index, activity level, aspirin use, history of diabetes, high blood pressure, and alcohol use, coffee consumption was linked to a significant lower risk of total stroke, cerebral infarction (ischemic stroke), and subarachnoid hemorrhage, but not cerebral hemorrhage (hemorrhagic stroke). The ‘benefit’ was seen with 1 cup a day up to 5 or more cups a day, without any ‘dose effect’. In other words, very low or no coffee intake is associated with an increased risk of stroke in women.
Note that both these studies report an association between drinking coffee and a health benefit, but this is not cause-and-effect evidence. Nevertheless, if you’re a coffee drinker, you may feel better about your habit!
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