Am J Clin Nutr. 2012 Aug;96(2):374-81.
Caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee and tea intakes and risk of colorectal cancer in a large prospective study.
Sinha R, Cross AJ, Daniel CR, Graubard BI, Wu JW, Hollenbeck AR, Gunter MJ, Park Y, Freedman ND.
Source
Nutritional Epidemiology Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics,
National Cancer Institute, NIH, Department of Health and Human Services,
Rockville, MD, USA. sinhar@nih.gov
Abstract
BACKGROUND:
Coffee and tea are widely consumed globally and are rich sources of potential
chemopreventive compounds. Epidemiologic data for coffee and tea intakes in
relation to colorectal cancer remain unclear. Despite differences in gut
physiology, few studies have conducted investigations by anatomic subsites.
OBJECTIVE:
We evaluated coffee and tea intakes (caffeinated and decaffeinated) in relation
to colon (proximal and distal) and rectal cancers.
DESIGN:
The NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study included 489,706 men and women who completed
a baseline (1995-1996) self-administered questionnaire of demographics, diet,
and lifestyle. Over a median of 10.5 y of follow-up, we identified 2863 proximal
colon, 1993 distal colon, and 1874 rectal cancers. Multivariable HRs and 95% CIs
were estimated by using Cox regression.
RESULTS:
Approximately 16% of participants drank >=4 cups coffee/d. Compared with
nondrinkers, drinkers of 4-5 cups coffee/d (HR: 0.85; 95% CI: 0.75, 0.96) and >=6
cups coffee/d (HR: 0.74; 95% CI: 0.61, 0.89; P-trend < 0.001) had a lower risk
of colon cancer, particularly of proximal tumors (HR for >=6 cups/d: 0.62; 95% CI:
0.49, 0.81; P-trend < 0.0001). Results were similar to those overall for
drinkers of predominantly caffeinated coffee. Although individual HRs were not
significant, there was a significant P-trend for both colon and rectal cancers
for people who drank predominantly decaffeinated coffee. No associations were
observed for tea.
CONCLUSIONS:
In this large US cohort, coffee was inversely associated with colon cancer,
particularly proximal tumors. Additional investigations of coffee intake and its
components in the prevention of colorectal cancer by subsites are warranted. The
NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as
NCT00340015.
PMID: 22695871 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] PMCID: PMC3396445