Cancers of the head and neck are the seventh most common form of cancer worldwide – with 745k new cases and 364k deaths in 2020 and rates rising in low- and middle-income countries.
Previous studies have looked at whether there coffee and tea is a link between these kinds of cancer, including cancers of the mouth and throat, but results have been inconsistent thus far.
A new study, led by the University of Utah’s Huntsman Cancer Institute and which aimed to provide additional insight, has found a reduced risk of head and neck cancers with those who drink these beverages.
This latest research examined data from 14 studies by different scientists associated with the International Head and Neck Cancer Epidemiology consortium, a collaboration of research groups around the globe. Study participants completed questionnaires about their prior consumption of caffeinated coffee, decaffeinated coffee, and tea in cups per day/week/month/year.
“While there has been prior research on coffee and tea consumption and reduced risk of cancer, this study highlighted their varying effects with different sub-sites of head and neck cancer, including the observation that even decaffeinated coffee had some positive impact,” said senior author Yuan-Chin Amy Lee, an adjunct associate professor for the Division of Public Health in the U’s Department of Family and Preventive Medicine.
“Coffee and tea habits are fairly complex, and these findings support the need for more data and further studies around the impact that coffee and tea can have on reducing cancer risk.”
The research gathered information on 9,548 people will cancers of the head and neck and 15,783 without cancer. Compared to those who did not drink coffee, those who consumed more than 4 cups of caffeinated coffee daily had a 17% lower chance of having head and neck cancer.
Specially, if found the odds of having cancer of the oral cavity and throat cancer was 30% and 22% lower respectively.
Drinking three to four cups of caffeinated coffee was linked with a 41% lower risk of having hypopharyngeal cancer (a type of cancer at the bottom of the throat).
Drinking decaffeinated coffee was also associated with 25% lower odds of oral cavity cancer.
Meanwhile, tea drinks had a 29% lower risk of having hypopharyngeal cancer. Moreover, drinking one cup or less of tea daily was linked with a 9% lower risk of head and neck cancer overall; and a 27% lower risk of hypopharyngeal cancer. However, drinking more than one cup was associated with 38% higher odds of laryngeal cancer.
The researchers have said that future studies are needed to address geographical differences in types of coffee and tea to further improve our understanding of the links between these hot beverages and head and neck cancers.
The study, ‘Coffee and Tea Consumption and the Risk of Head and Neck Cancer: An Updated Pooled Analysis in the International Head and Neck Cancer Epidemiology Consortium’, was published by Wiley in a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society. Funding came primarily from the National Cancer Institute.
