How many cups of coffee, or tea, do you drink per day? A team of international researchers has just published a coffee and tea consumption study, relayed by the site Live Science. Beyond a certain dose, these two drinks could increase the risk of developing lung cancer. Their research was unveiled at the end of March at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research.
The consumption of coffee and tea is often higher in smokers, so it was difficult before this study to distinguish the possible role of these drinks in the fact of developing lung cancer. But this time around, the researchers noticed that even non-smokers, heavy drinkers of coffee and tea, developed lung cancer.
The research pooled data from 17 previously conducted studies involving a total of 1.2 million people in the United States and Asia. Of these, almost half were non-smokers. They were followed for more than 8 years and 20,500 developed lung cancer.
No more than two cups of coffee or tea per day
Researchers found that people who drank more than two cups of coffee a day had a 41% higher risk than others of developing lung cancer. the decaffeinated coffee is no less dangerous, on the contrary. It would further increase the risk by 15% compared to normal coffee. For tea, the likelihood of developing lung cancer is increased by 37%. These risks do not vary according to age, sex or origin, specify the researchers.
However, this study has its limitations. The cup size drunk is quite imprecise, people may change their drinking habits over time, or non-smokers may have been passive smokers … This is an observational study and not not prove the cause and effect link.
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