Coffee used in colon cancer fight

2003-01-19 14:08

Tokyo - A Japanese research team found a cup of coffee a day halves the risk of colon cancer among women, a news report said on Sunday.

It was unclear why, the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper said, citing a study by researchers at Gifu University in central Japan.

"But this indicates coffee does something good to the large intestine," the Mainichi said, citing the study.

Since 1992, the research team under professor Hiroyuki Shimizu has followed the diet of 30 224 Gifu residents who were 35 and older and were without colon cancer when the study started.

By 2000, 111 men and 102 women from the group had been diagnosed with colon cancer, according to the study.

The research team then divided all the research participants into three categories: non coffee drinkers, people who drink less than a cup of coffee a day, and people who drink one or more cups of coffee a day.

After adjusting the data to the participants' smoking habit, body fat, alcohol intake, age, and other factors, the research team calculated their risk of developing colon cancer.

If the risk of colon cancer among non coffee drinkers was described as one, the same risk was 0.49 among women who drink more than one cup of coffee a day, according to the study, which concluded the data was statistically significant.

There were no valid conclusions among the male subjects and the women who drink less than a cup of coffee a day, the Mainichi said.

The newspaper said previous studies have suggested links between coffee and lowered risk of cancer.

However, the newspaper cited other cancer researchers and said more comprehensive studies were needed to study individual lifestyle habits of research participants before concluding coffee lowers colon cancer risks. - Sapa-AFP

- SAPA