Coffee addicts may be enjoying protection from cancers of the mouth, researchers reported yesterday.
A major study, involving nearly a million people, has found that heavy coffee drinkers enjoyed a halved risk of developing these cancers compared with people who rarely take the drink.
The finding only applies to people who drink caffeinated coffee.
The research was conducted by the American Cancer Society and are based on 26 years of research involving men and women who were free of cancer at the state of the study.
Out of the 968,000 volunteers, some 868 died from oral or pharyngeal cancers, which affect the mouth and upper throat.
The research was reported in the American Journal of Epidemiology.
Researcher Dr Janet Hildebrand said it would be worth investigating whether coffee could help with the treatment of mouth cancer.
She said: "Coffee is one of the most widely consumed beverages in the world, and contains a variety of antioxidants, polyphenols, and other biologically active compounds that may help to protect against development or progression of cancers.
"Although it is less common in the United States, oral/pharyngeal cancer is among the ten most common cancers in the world."
Coffee, Tea, and Fatal Oral/Pharyngeal Cancer in a Large Prospective U.S. Cohort. Am. J. Epidemiol. December 9 2012; doi: 10.1093/aje/kws222
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