Increased coffee consumption linked with reduced risk of prostate cancer progression and recurrence

Friday, August 30, 2013. An article published online this month in the journal Cancer Causes & Control reports the finding of Janet L. Stanford, PhD of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and her colleagues of an association between increased coffee intake and a lower risk of the progression and recurrence of prostate cancer.

The study included 630 men diagnosed from 2002 to 2005 with nonmetastatic prostate cancer. Questionnaire responses provided information concerning coffee and tea intake during the two years prior to diagnosis. Over a median of 6.4 years, 140 cases of prostate cancer recurrence or progression occurred.

"Our study differs from previous ones because we used a composite definition of prostate cancer recurrence/progression," noted lead author Milan Geybels, who was a graduate student in Stanford's Prostate Studies group at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center at the time the study was conducted. "We used detailed information on follow-up prostate-specific antigen levels, use of secondary treatment for prostate cancer and data from scans and biopsies to assess occurrence of metastases and cause-specific mortality during follow up. Using these detailed data, we could determine whether a patient had evidence of prostate cancer recurrence or progression."

Sixty-one percent of the subjects reported drinking at least one cup of coffee daily. Among the 12% of subjects whose coffee intake was four cups per day or more, the risk of experiencing recurrence or progression was 59% lower than those who consumed a cup or less per week. There did not appear to be an association between tea drinking and prostate cancer recurrence or progression in the current investigation. "It is important to note, however, that few patients in our cohort were regular tea drinkers and the highest category of tea consumption was one or more cups per day," the authors remark. "The association should be investigated in future studies that have access to larger populations with higher levels of tea consumption."

Coffee contains compounds that include caffeine, cafestol, kahweol, and chlorogenic acid, which have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory or other properties that could help inhibit cancer growth. The authors recommend the evaluation of coffee or its components for secondary prevention of prostate cancer in a randomized clinical trial.

"Results indicate that higher prediagnostic coffee consumption is associated with a lower risk of prostate cancer recurrence/progression," the authors conclude. "This finding will require replication in larger studies."

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