(Image source from: Coffee prevents you from Melanoma Cancer})

A study found that the intake of coffee can protect us from melanoma, a type of cancer. Melanoma is a kind of skin cancer, which can lead the human beings towards death.

Erikka Loftfield, M.P.H., of the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, studied data from the NIH-AARP Diet and Health study to know if there was any relation between coffee consumption and risk of cutaneous melanoma. Information on coffee consumption was obtained from 447,357 non-Hispanic white subjects with a self-administered food-frequency questionnaire in 1995/1996, with a median follow-up of 10 years.

All subjects included in the analysis were cancer-free at baseline, and the authors adjusted for ambient residential UV radiation exposure, BMI, age, sex, physical activity, alcohol consumption, and smoking habit. Overall, the highest coffee intake was inversely associated with a risk of malignant melanoma, with a 20 percent lower risk for those who consumed 4 cups per day or more.

There was also a trend toward more protection with higher intake, with the protective effect increasing from 1 or fewer cups to 4 or more. However, the effect was statistically significant for caffeinated but not decaffeinated coffee and only for protection against malignant melanoma but will not cure the disease that is already there in body.

However the results are from primary studies only, these may not be applicable to other populations, so advanced level of investigations over coffee intake is needed. Researchers concluded that "Because of its high disease burden, lifestyle modifications with even modest protective effects may have a meaningful impact on melanoma morbidity." 

The study was published in JNCI: Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

-Kannamsai