FEB 2012: Coffee and Metabolic Syndrome

New data from Matsuura et al. has highlighted how moderate coffee consumption is significantly associated with a lower prevalence of metabolic syndrome in men.

We would like to provide you with the following quote from Dr Euan Paul, Executive Director of the British Coffee Association about the implications of this study.

“This study adds to the growing weight of evidence which shows that moderate coffee consumption, of 4 – 5 cups a day, is safe and may lower the prevalence of metabolic syndrome in men. Further research is however required to fully understand these findings in the wider population. Pregnant women should moderate coffee drinking to 2 – 3 cups per day in line with guidance by the NHS.”

FEB 2012: New Research Suggests that Moderate Coffee Consumption Lowers The Risk of Type 2 Diabetes

A new prospective cohort study amongst 42,659 participants suggests that coffee consumption may be linked to a lower risk of type 2 diabetes.¹ Results from this study also suggest that coffee consumption does not increase the risk of chronic disease, such as cardiovascular disease (heart attack and stroke) and cancer.¹

These results are important as:

• Diabetes is one of the biggest health challenges facing the UK today² and there are 2.61 million people currently diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in the UK, with an estimated 765,000people who have the condition but don’t know it³
• Before the age of 75, more than one in four deaths in men and one in five deaths in women are from cardiovascular disease⁴
• There are over 300,000 cases of cancer in the UK every year⁵

Dr Euan Paul, Executive Director of the British Coffee Association, commented, “This study adds to the growing scientific data that suggests moderate coffee consumption, 4 – 5 cups of coffee per day, is safe and does not increase the risk of a range of chronic disease.  It is particularly encouraging to see that coffee consumption may lower the risk of type II diabetes given that around 90% of all adults in the UK with diabetes have type 2 diabetes.”⁶

As advised by the NHS, pregnant women should moderate their intake of caffeine to 200mg per day from all sources.⁷ 

References

1. A Floegel et al. Coffee consumption and risk of chronic disease in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC)- Germany study, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2012. doi:10.3945/ajcn.111.023648 
2. Diabetes UK, http://www.diabetes.org.uk/Documents/Reports/Diabetes_in_the_UK_2010.pdf accessed February 2012
3. Diabetes UK, http://www.diabetes.org.uk/Guide-to-diabetes/Introduction-to-diabetes/What_is_diabetes/ accessed February 2012
4. Coronary Heart Disease Statistics 2010. British Heart Foundation
5. World Cancer Research Fund, http://www.wcrf-uk.org/research/cancer_statistics/index.php accessed February 2012
6. NHS Choics, http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/diabetes/pages/diabetes.aspx accessed February 2012
7. NHS Choices, http://www.nhs.uk/Planners/pregnancycareplanner/pages/Healthinpregnancyhome.aspx Accessed February 2012

JAN 2012: New Research Suggests that Coffee Consumption May Lower Endometrial Cancer Risk Amongst Post-Menopausal Women

A new prospective cohort study amongst 45,696 women suggests that there is no association between coffee consumption and endometrial cancer risk.¹  These data demonstrate evidence of an overall inverse association between decaffeinated coffee and endometrial cancer risk.¹  Within the subgroup of obese women, the researchers observed a lower risk of endometrial cancer amongst obese women who drank two or less cups of coffee.¹  These results are important as:

• Obese women have the highest absolute risk of endometrial cancer, when compared with thin women¹
• About 4500 women in the UK develop endometrial cancer each year. Most cases develop in women in their 50s and 60s³

Dr Euan Paul, Executive Director of the British Coffee Association, commented, “This study adds to the growing scientific data that suggests moderate coffee consumption, 4 – 5 cups of coffee per day, is safe and not associated with risk of cancer.  It is particularly encouraging to see that this prospective cohort study builds on the findings of other studies which have also suggested that coffee consumption may reduce endometrial cancer risk.³

As advised by the NHS, pregnant women should moderate their intake of caffeine to 200mg per day from all sources.³  

References

1. Giri, A. et al.  Caffeinated Coffee, Decaffeinated Coffee and Endometrial Cancer Risk: A Prospective Cohort Study amongst US Postmenopausal Women. Nutrients, 2011, Volume 3, 937-950
2. Uterine Cancer, Patient UK. http://www.patient.co.uk/health/Cancer-of-the-Uterus.htm  Accessed January 2012
3. NHS Choices, http://www.nhs.uk/Planners/pregnancycareplanner/pages/Healthinpregnancyhome.aspx Accessed January 2012

November 2011: Coffee, Caffeine, and Risk of Hospitalization for Arrhythmias

Further to the publication of ‘Coffee, Caffeine, and Risk of Hospitalization for Arrhythmias’ (Klasky et al), the British Coffee Association (BCA) would like to provide the following comment:

Dr Euan Paul, Executive Director of the British Coffee Association says, “This study adds to the growing weight of evidence which shows that moderate coffee drinking, around 4 – 5 cups per day, is safe and may even have a protective effect against heart disease or in this case arrhythmias. Further research however is required to fully understand these findings in the wider population. Pregnant women should moderate coffee drinking to 2 – 3 cups per day in line with guidance by the NHS.”

October 2011: Coffee consumption and drug/alcohol dependency

Following reports in the today’s newspaper about caffeine consumption having an effect  drug/alcohol dependency.   Dr Euan Paul, Executive Director of the British Coffee Association,  comments: 

“As this study was only conducted in 22 participants the results cannot be extrapolated to the wider population, and further research would be required, but in general people can be reassured that 4 – 5 cups of coffee per day is safe for most people. Pregnant women should however moderate their intake to 2 – 3 cups per day in line with recommendations by the NHS.”

September 2011: Coffee Consumption and Risk of Stroke: A Dose-Response Meta-Analysis of

The ‘Coffee Consumption and Risk of Stroke: A Dose-Response Meta-Analysis of Prospective Studies’ from Larsson et al. has highlighted how moderate coffee consumption is inversely associated with the risk of stroke, within in a study population of over 400,000 participants.

We would like to provide you with the following quote from Dr Euan Paul, Executive Director of the British Coffee Association about the implications of this study.

“The results of this study are very encouraging and they add to a weight of evidence which shows that moderate coffee consumption, 4 – 5 cups of coffee per day, may be associated with a reduction in the risk of stroke. We can be reassured that 4 – 5 cups of coffee a day is considered for the general population and may provide certain health benefits. As advised by the NHS, pregnant women however should moderate caffeine intake to 200mg per day, which equates to 2 – 3 cups of coffee.”

August 2011: New Data Show that Coffee Consumption May Improve Hepatitis C Treatment Response

A new scientific study published in Gastroenterology concludes that coffee consumption may help improve treatment amongst advanced hepatitis C patients with chronic liver disease.1 Freedman et al’s analysis of 885 study participants also showed that patients who drank three or more cups of coffee per day were two times more likely to respond to specific treatments than non-drinkers.1

Dr Euan Paul, Executive Director of the British Coffee Association, commented, “The conclusions from this study show that there is an association between coffee intake and an improved virologic response to treatment, however further research is required to substantiate this link further. Previous studies of coffee and the liver have even suggested a lower incidence of liver cancer so this new data is very encouraging. Overall this study adds to the growing scientific data that suggests moderate coffee consumption, 4 – 5 cups of coffee per day, is safe for most people.”

As advised by the NHS, pregnant women should moderate their intake of caffeine to 200mg per day from all sources.2  References
1. Freedman, N.D., Curto, T.M., Lindsay, K.L., Wright, E.C., Sinha, R., Everhart, J.E., HALT-C Trial Group, Coffee Consumption is Associated with Response to Peginterferon and Ribavirin Therapy in Patients with Chronic Hepatitis C, Gastroenterology (2011), doi: 10.1053/j.gastro.2011.02.061
2. NHS Choices, http://www.nhs.uk/Planners/pregnancycareplanner/pages/Healthinpregnancyhome.aspx

May 2011: Coffee and Prostate Cancer

The ‘Coffee consumption and Prostate Cancer risk and progression in the health professionals follow-up study’ from Wilson et al. has highlighted a strong inverse relationship between coffee consumption and the risk of lethal prostate cancer in 47,911 men.

We would like to provide you with the following quote from Dr Euan Paul, Executive Director of the British Coffee Association about the implications of this study.

“The results of this study are very encouraging and they add to a weight of evidence which shows that moderate coffee consumption, 4 – 5 cups of coffee per day, may be associated with an inverse risk of prostate cancer. The findings from this study observed a stronger inverse risk of lethal prostate cancer  compared to previous research and we welcome further research to be conducted in this area. Overall we can be reassured that 4 – 5 cups of coffee a day is considered safe for the general population and may provide certain health benefits. As advised by the NHS, pregnant women however should moderate caffeine intake to 200mg per day, which equates to 2 – 3 cups of coffee.”

May 2011: New Data Show that Coffee Consumption May Reduce Breast Cancer Risk

Results from a large population-based study published in Breast Cancer Research shows that female coffee drinkers had a lower incidence of breast cancer than women who rarely drank coffee.1  In an analysis of 2,818 cases and 3,111 controls, a daily intake of coffee was found to be associated with a statistically significant decrease in antiestrogen-resistant estrogen-receptor (ER)-negative breast cancer.1

This research is important as:
•         Breast cancer is now the most common cancer in the UK2
•         In 2008 almost 47,700 women were diagnosed with breast cancer in the UK, that’s around 130 women a day2

Dr Euan Paul, Executive Director of the British Coffee Association, commented, “This study adds to the growing scientific data that suggests moderate coffee consumption, 4 – 5 cups of coffee per day, is not associated with an increased risk of cancer.  It is particularly encouraging to see that these data suggest that coffee consumption may reduce a woman’s risk of developing ER negative breast cancer. This study builds on the World Cancer Research Fund’s advice that coffee has no significant relationship with the risk of cancer at any site3.”

As advised by the NHS, pregnant women should moderate their intake of caffeine to 200mg per day from all sources.4 

References
1. Li, J., et al. Coffee consumption modified risk of estrogen-receptor negative breast cancer. Breast Cancer Research.  Breast Cancer Research 2011, 13:R49doi:10.1186/bcr2879
2. Breast Cancer Statistics – Key Facts. http://info.cancerresearchuk.org/cancerstats/types/breast/ Accessed May 2011
3. Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity and the Prevention of Cancer: a Global Perspective as well as the companion report, Policy and Action for Cancer Prevention, available online: www.dietandcancerreport.org
4. NHS Choices, http://www.nhs.uk/Planners/pregnancycareplanner/pages/Healthinpregnancyhome.aspx

May 2011: New Website Launched Featuring Latest Research on “Coffee and Health”

The newly launched website on “coffee and health,” www.coffeeandhealth.org, from the Institute for Scientific Information on Coffee (ISIC) has been created to provide balanced, up-to date scientific information on coffee, caffeine and health to health professionals, academics and specialist health media.

The website features three dedicated information centres, tailored to the specific needs of healthcare practitioners such as doctors, nurses and dieticians, the academic and research community, as well as specialist health media. The site includes fully-referenced, balanced information, based on the latest scientific research, as well as additional background data sourced from relevant authoritative bodies on a range of health topics including cardiovascular health, fluid balance, liver function, pregnancy, sports performance and type 2 diabetes.