This is news that will please coffee addicts! According to a study presented earlier this week at the Congress of the Association for American Cancer Research, a very regular consumption of coffee would reduce the risk of basalioma, one of the forms of skin cancer the most frequent.
Other studies have already shown that coffee reduces the risk of stroke in women . It is still women who would benefit from better protection against skin cancer, by consuming coffee. Those who drink at least three cups of coffee a day have a 20% lower risk of developing basalioma (also called basacellular epithelioma), a malignant skin tumor, compared to those who do not drink coffee. While in men, the risk is only reduced by 9%.
A 25-year study of 112,000 people
The authors of this study admit to being surprised at the results of two parallel studies which took place between June 1984 and June 2008: the first concerned more than 72,000 people and the second nearly 40,000 people (see the summary of these studies here).
Early research on mice had suggested a link between caffeine consumption and a lower risk of skin cancer. But this extended study shows more precisely that caffeine mainly protects against basalioma (and not against other forms of skin cancer) and that in addition decaffeinated coffee has no protective effect.
With nearly a million new cases of basalioma diagnosed each year in the United States alone, dietary advice like drinking coffee, even if it has modest protective effects, could have a real impact on public health. , say the researchers, who intend to push their research further to discover the mechanisms of protection. Fortunately, the chances of recovery from basalioma are 95%.
