A new study links drinking coffee to a lower risk of colon cancer.
This finding doesn’t surprise me one bit. As you know, coffee contains many natural, biologically active constituents that support digestion and colon health. In fact, many people enjoy a cup of coffee after a meal because it benefits their digestion and colon function. Of course, other studies show drinking coffee regularly also prevents dementia, heart disease, and other chronic diseases.
Coffee contains diterpenes, melanoidins, and polyphenols — all of which have anti-cancer activities as well as many other health benefits. These compounds support the normal, healthy microbiome of the GI tract. (As you know, I always recommend eating foods that support your normal natural microbiome, rather than taking unproven probiotic pills.) They also act as antioxidants, influence bile secretion by the liver and gall bladder, and improve bowel functions such as capacity and motility.
For the new study, researchers surveyed 5,145 people with colon cancer and 4,097 people without colon cancer about their dietary habits. The researchers asked specifically about coffee consumption and whether the participants drank caffeinated, decaffeinated, boiled, expresso, instant, or filtered coffees.
Why you shouldn’t stop at just one cup
Overall, researchers found coffee drinkers had a 26 percent lower risk of developing colon cancer compared to non-coffee drinkers. They also found a strong dose-response effect. In other words, the more coffee the participant drank, the less likely they were to develop colon cancer.
Drinking one to two cups of coffee daily lowered colon cancer risk by 22 percent. Drinking two to two-and-one-half cups per day lowered risk by 41 percent. And drinking more than two-and-one-half cups a day lowered a participant’s risk of getting colon cancer by a whopping 56 percent. To put it another way, this finding means drinking just three cups of coffee per day reduces your risk of colon cancer by more than half.
The study offered four other key findings as well…
First, men and women with colon cancer were actually somewhat younger than people who remained free of colon cancer. Second, people with colon cancer were also less likely to take low-dose daily aspirin. Third, they were less likely to eat five or more servings of vegetables per day. Fourth, they were less physically active and had a stronger family history of colon cancer.
Here is one last interesting finding from the study…
Several different ethnic groups participated in this study. Sixty one percent of the participants were Ashkenazi Jews, 21 percent were Sephardic Jews, and 14 were Arabs. (The report did not comment on the remaining 4 percent.) And overall, the Arab population had the highest level of coffee consumption, which is a tradition that goes back centuries.
Potent, simple approach to prevent colon cancer
Here again, we have a simple, powerful and proven method for preventing colon cancer. But all we hear about are colonoscopy screenings. Doctors call colon cancer screenings “secondary prevention” because early diagnosis catches the cancer before it invades, metastasizes, and becomes life threatening. But a colonoscopy, biopsy, and surgery certainly aren’t nearly as simple or safe as just drinking a few cups of coffee each day.
Just consider “routine” colonoscopies for a moment. They are the mainstream’s favorite “go to” colon cancer screening procedure. But they are fraught with unnecessary danger, expense, and discomfort. Not to mention the inexcusable contamination risks.
The FDA is finally going after manufacturers and practitioners to get the contamination issues under control. But the problem truly lies with the design of these scopes. Even when they use proper sterilization procedures, the bacteria remain in the scope. I think endoscope makers and practitioners need to go to greater lengths to properly solve the problem because the stakes are just too high.
I believe we need safer options all around for colon cancer screening. So I am starting a petition called the “Safe Colon Cancer Screenings Campaign,” which I plan to send to Congress. You will soon be able to join this campaign by taking a moment of your time (it won’t cost you anything) to read the petition and add your name to the cause. Remember, the right to petition the government is still guaranteed in the Bill of Rights to the U.S. Constitution. Exercise your rights and be on the lookout for the new petition for the “Safe Colon Cancer Screenings Campaign” in the coming weeks.
The mainstream cancer industry likes to credit the reduction in colon cancer in recent decades to increased screening. And they want us to assume that they are talking about colonoscopy specifically. But zero evidence suggests we have colonoscopies specifically to thank for that decline versus other tried and true screening methods. In fact, for those who know the recent history, colon cancer deaths began declining before the modern epidemic of colonoscopies came into vogue.
As I often remind you, recent research shows that popular cancer screenings in general do not save lives — whether breast cancer in women, prostate cancer in men, or colon cancer in both.
However, you can rely on the primary prevention of colon cancer and other chronic diseases using natural approaches — such as simply drinking a few cups of coffee each day.
Source:
Schmit, S. et al, Cancer Epidemiol. Biomarkers Prev. 2016;25: 634-639