Health : Health Buzz: Coffee May Protect Against Prostate Cancer |
| Health Buzz: Coffee May Protect Against Prostate Cancer Posted: 19 May 2011 07:36 AM PDT Study: Six Cups of Coffee a Day Cuts Lethal Prostate Cancer Risk 60 Percent Pour another cup, coffee enthusiasts, because new research suggests java helps curb the risk of prostate cancer. Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health analyzed data from nearly 48,000 American men who reported their coffee consumption every four years between 1986 and 2008. They found that those who consumed the most coffee—at least six cups a day—were 60 percent less likely to develop lethal prostate cancer than nondrinkers, according to a study published Tuesday in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Men who drank one to three cups a day, meanwhile, had a 30 percent lower risk of lethal prostate cancer. The results were similar between men who drank decaf and regular coffee, suggesting caffeine isn't the driving force behind the trend. Rather, coffee could reduce inflammation and affect key hormones that play a role in the disease, the researchers speculate. "If our findings are validated, coffee could represent one modifiable factor that may lower the risk of developing the most harmful form of prostate cancer," study author Kathryn Wilson told CBS News. "I don't recommend that men change their diets based on the results of any single study. We need to see if this finding is confirmed in other populations." Is Coffee Bad for You? Actually, Drinking Coffee May Be Good for You It's believed to improve mood, alertness, and energy. But is coffee bad for you? Despite past concerns about coffee, tea, and other sources of caffeine being detrimental to health, research suggests that regular coffee consumption may reduce the risk of health conditions such as type 2 diabetes, Parkinson's disease, and liver cancer—and regular coffee drinkers might even live longer. "For most people [who] choose to drink coffee, the benefits probably outweigh the risks," says Donald Hensrud, chair of the division of preventive medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. "In the past, a lot of people have tried to improve their health by cutting down on coffee," says Rob M. van Dam, assistant professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health. But that's probably an unnecessary sacrifice. Although experts once thought caffeine was harmful, "studies have been largely reassuring," he says. In the past, it has been hard to differentiate the health effects of coffee versus those tied to smoking cigarettes, since heavy coffee drinkers are more likely to smoke than other people. Coffee is "not only a vehicle for caffeine," says van Dam. "It has a lot of other components." It's likely that those other components—such as antioxidants and fiber—account for some of coffee's health benefits, experts say. "We always hear about tea, and especially green tea, being a good source of antioxidants, but it's been reported that coffee may be the largest source of antioxidants among people who drink it," says Hensrud. More research is needed to understand how these other ingredients might benefit health among coffee drinkers. [Read more: Is Coffee Bad for You? Actually, Drinking Coffee May Be Good for You.] Kids Are Getting Amped on Caffeine, Even at Age 5 Most school-age children drink caffeinated drinks, and many of them are imbibing enough caffeine to give adults the jitters. And their sleep is suffering. That's according to the Journal of Pediatrics, which surveyed parents on their children's caffeine habits last December. It turns out that 5- to 7-year-olds on average drink 52 milligrams of caffeine daily, or the caffeine equivalent of one Coke. That may not sound too bad, but the 228 parents in the study admitted their 8- to 12-year-olds drink the caffeine equivalent of almost three Cokes daily. And the more caffeine the kids took in, the less they slept. It's hard to imagine parents thinking double lattes are a good choice for kids, but the fact is that 75 percent of the 228 parents surveyed by the researchers, at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, said their kids down caffeinated drinks daily. Soft drinks are the biggest culprit; they're also a bad choice for kids because they're high in sugar, with zero nutritional value. Schools don't always help on this. Another study found that 14 percent of public elementary school students and 38 percent of private elementary school students can buy sugar-sweetened beverages at school. And kids often don't realize that Gatorade and other sports drinks are just soft drinks in disguise. [Read more: Kids Are Getting Amped on Caffeine, Even at Age 5.]
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