Two popular hot drinks could protect against cancers which kill more than 4,100 people in the UK every year. Latest figures show 4,143 died of head and neck cancers in a year.
The Cancer Research UK data also shows 12,759 people were diagnosed with the disease which includes mouth and throat cancers. Now scientists have discovered drinking tea and coffee have been linked with linked with lower risks of developing these cancers.
The findings, are published by in CANCER , a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society. Over the years a number of studies have assessed whether drinking coffee or tea is associated with head and neck cancer, with inconsistent results.
Looking to discover if there was a link 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.
They looked at 9,548 patients with head and neck cancer and 15,783 controls without cancer and discovered that compared with non-coffee-drinkers, individuals who drank more than four cups of caffeinated coffee daily had 17% lower odds of having head and neck cancer overall. They also has 30% lower odds of having cancer of the oral cavity, and 22% lower odds of having throat cancer.
Drinking three to four of caffeinated coffee was linked with a 41% lower risk of having hypopharyngeal cancer (a type of cancer at the bottom of the throat). And drinking decaffeinated coffee was associated with 25% lower odds of oral cavity cancer.
Tea was also to have benefits as the beverage 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 one cup was associated with 38% higher odds of laryngeal cancer.
Senior author Yuan-Chin Amy Lee, PhD, of Huntsman Cancer Institute and the University of Utah School of Medicine said: “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.
“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.”