Does Drinking Coffee Prevent Head and Neck Cancers?

In a new analysis of data from more than a dozen studies, coffee and tea consumption was linked with lower risks of developing head and neck cancers, including cancers of the mouth and throat.

Cancers of the head and neck are the seventh most common forms of cancer worldwide, and rates are rising in low- and middle-income countries. Many studies have assessed whether drinking coffee or tea is associated with head and neck cancer, with inconsistent results.

To provide additional insight, investigators led by the University of Utah’s Huntsman Cancer Institute examined data from 14 studies by different scientists associated with the International Head and Neck Cancer Epidemiology (INHANCE) 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.

“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,” said senior author Yuan-Chin Amy Lee, an adjunct associate professor for the Division of Public Health in the university’s Department of Family and Preventive Medicine. “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.”

When investigators pooled information on 9,548 patients with head and neck cancer and 15,783 controls without cancer, they found that compared with non-coffee-drinkers, individuals who drank more than four cups of caffeinated coffee daily had 17 percent lower odds of having head and neck cancer overall, 30 percent lower odds of having cancer of the oral cavity, and 22 percent lower odds of having throat cancer. Drinking three to four cups of caffeinated coffee was linked with a 41 percent lower risk of having hypopharyngeal cancer (a type of cancer at the bottom of the throat).

Drinking decaffeinated coffee was associated with 25 percent lower odds of oral cavity cancer. Drinking tea was linked with 29 percent lower odds of hypopharyngeal cancer. Also, drinking one cup or less of tea daily was linked with a 9 percent lower risk of head and neck cancer overall and a 27 percent lower risk of hypopharyngeal cancer, but drinking more than one cup was associated with 38 percent higher odds of laryngeal cancer.

- This press release was originally published by the University of Utah