Increased coffee consumption is associated with a reduced risk for prostate cancer, according to a review and meta-analysis published online Jan. 11 in BMJ Open.
Xiaonan Chen, from Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, and colleagues conducted a systematic review with a meta-analysis of cohort studies to examine the association between coffee consumption and the risk for prostate cancer. Data were included from 16 prospective cohort studies with 1,081,586 cohort members and 57,732 cases of prostate cancer.
The researchers observed a significant association between higher coffee consumption and a lower risk for prostate cancer. The pooled relative risk was 0.91 (95 percent confidence interval, 0.84 to 0.98) for the highest versus the lowest category of coffee consumption. A significant linear trend was seen for the association (P = 0.006), with a pooled relative risk of 0.988 (95 percent confidence interval, 0.981 to 0.995) for each increase of one cup of coffee per day. The pooled relative risks were 0.93 (95 percent confidence interval, 0.87 to 0.99), 0.88 (95 percent confidence interval, 0.71 to 1.09), and 0.84 (95 percent confidence interval, 0.66 to 1.08) for localized, advanced, and fatal prostate cancer, respectively.
“This study suggests that increased coffee consumption may be associated with a reduced risk of prostate cancer,” the authors write. “If the association is further proved to be a causal effect, men might be encouraged to increase their coffee consumption to potentially decrease the risk of prostate cancer.”
