Coffee could lower skin cancer risk - WTVM.com-Columbus, GA News Weather & Sports

Java junkies everywhere, rejoice: your cup of joe may cut your risk for the most common form of skin cancer. 

A new study published in Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, claims caffeine lowers a person's chances of developing basal cell carcinoma. 

"Our data indicate that the more caffeinated coffee you consume, the lower your risk of developing basal cell carcinoma," said Jiali Han, Ph.D., associate professor at Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School in Boston and Harvard School of Public Health.

Researchers examined data gathered from 112,897 people and said one-fourth of those studied developed the cancer over a 20 year period.

"I would not recommend increasing your coffee intake based on these data alone," said Han. "However, our results add basal cell carcinoma to a list of conditions for which risk is decreased with increasing coffee consumption. This list includes conditions with serious negative health consequences such as Type 2 diabetes and Parkinson's disease."      

Caffeine seemed to be the key factor, so tea, cola and chocolate may also help cut a person's risk of developing basal cell carcinoma.  

However, neither coffee nor caffeine intake were shown to be inversely associated with the two other forms of skin cancer, squamous cell carcinoma and melanoma, the deadliest form of the disease.  

"It is possible that these numbers are insufficient for any association with coffee consumption to be seen," Han said. "As the study participants are followed for a longer time, the number of cases of these conditions is likely to increase. We may be in a position in 10 years' time to better address this issue."   

Please visit http://www.aacr.org/home/public--media/aacr-in-the-news.aspx?d=2832 for more information.

Copyright 2012 WTVM. All rights reserved.