Does a Coffee a Day Keep Melanoma Away?

Most of us just can't start our mornings without a nice, warm cup of coffee. There's much to be said about how coffee affects your body, and if it's good for you or not. Some argue that coffee is bad for you, and you shouldn't have it, while others say it may have some benefits. Well, we're here to tell you to hold off on skipping that morning cup of coffee. Why?

A new study finds that people who drink four or more cups of coffee per day are at least 20 percent, and possibly as much as 32 percent, less likely to develop the sometimes deadly form of skin cancer, which is known as melanoma. Only regular, caffeine-containing coffee confers a cancer-protective benefit. Sorry decaf lovers but no protection from melanoma was found from drinking decaf.

How exactly can a cup of coffee help prevent against the deadliest form of cancer, though? Let's unpack the science together.

Little Progress In The Fight Against Melanoma

This study, which was published in the Journal of National Cancer Institute, answered questions raised by earlier research into the relationship between coffee and skin cancer. There have been about 20 studies that found some kind of protective relationship between drinking coffee and skin cancer, and as many as 1400 studies that found that drinking coffee protects against most kinds of cancer, in general.

Common skin cancers almost never turn malignant and almost never result in death, but once melanoma has become malignant, only about 20 percent of patients live five years or more. Melanoma tends to strike Caucasians who have unusually fair skin. The greatest risk is for those who have fair skin, red hair, and blue eyes. Melanoma rates are highest in Australia and the United States, notably in Hawaii, and about 9000 people worldwide die from the disease in any given year. Melanoma rates have been rising rather than falling, increasing about five to seven percent every year.

Caffeine Is Key To Melanoma Protection

Erikka Loftfield, a doctoral student at the Yale School of Public Health and a fellow at the National Cancer Institute, examined data from a huge study of 447,357 members of the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), who were tracked for an average of 10 years each. In this group, over the 10 years of the study, there were 1,874 cases of cutaneous melanoma, cancer that has been caught early enough to be survivable, and 2,904 cases of malignant melanoma, which is seldom survivable even with modern treatment.

Participants in the study reported how much coffee they drank, as well as their weight and height for computation of their body mass index (BMI), alcohol intake, and exercise. The study used data from NASA to estimate the amount of UV sunlight exposure for people in the towns in which they lived.

Perked Protection

Loftfield analyzed the data and found that:

• Melanoma occurred at an annual rate of 55.9 cases per 100,000 people among those who drank 4 or more cups of coffee per day, and
• Melanoma occurred at an annual rate of 77.6 cases per 100,000 people among those who did not drink coffee.

See Also: Wealthy Adolescent Girls and Young Women More Likely to be Diagnosed with Melanoma

This study did not find that alcohol consumption, use of sunscreen, or maintaining normal weight protected against this form of skin cancer. It only found a protective effect of coffee for caffeinated coffee, and only for consumption of four cups per day or more. Studies of other kinds of skin cancer have found that caffeine in tea and chocolate also protect against basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma, but as yet, the best data is that the caffeine in coffee protects best against melanoma.

What's Special About Coffee In A Lifestyle to Prevent Cancer?

The "secret ingredient" in coffee that protects against cancer may turn out to be chlorogenic acid, not caffeine. Chlorogenic acid is a chemical the coffee plant makes to protect the bean, its seed, from molds and fungi during the long time it lies in the ground before germinating. Scientists in the People's Republic of China have found that chlorogenic acid similarly protects skin cells when they are attacked by ultraviolet light, by increasing the production of melanin, the antioxidant pigment that gives the skin its color.

But I Don't Like Coffee

Chlorogenic acid is most abundant in coffee, especially in green, unroasted coffee. (That does not mean that taking green coffee bean extract supplements will prevent cancer, although probably they are even more useful than drinking coffee every day.) However, this potentially cancer-protective chemical is not only found in coffee. It appears in potatoes, prunes, and peaches. The best natural source of chlorogenic acid is a kind of dried sunflower leaf produced in Bulgaria and marketed as "Yammiagra" and "Yummyagra."

Most studies find that about 80 percent of the caffeine in a coffee drinker's diet comes from coffee. Loftfield's study confirms that caffeine has a protective role for melanoma, and other studies have found that:

• Caffeine from coffee, tea, and soft drinks seems to protect against early onset of another form of skin cancer, basal cell carcinoma.
• The caffeine in either coffee or tea protect against some forms of ovarian cancer.
• Caffeine from coffee, tea, and colas may confer some protection against colorectal cancer, although some people benefit more than others due to the presence or absence of enzymes in the liver that break down the caffeine.

Different people will have different degrees of response to any nutrient or medication, but caffeine is generally cancer-protective.

Is Drinking Coffee More Important Than Using Sunscreen?

That doesn't mean, however, that just drinking a cup of coffee a day will keep melanoma or any other form of cancer away. For preventing skin cancer, avoiding excessive sun protection is a must. The paradoxical finding of research into the use of sunscreen to prevent melanoma is that:

• Using sunscreen protects against melanoma from "incidental" sun exposure during daily activities of life, but
• Using sunscreen does not protect against melanoma risk from intentional sun exposure, such as lying on the beach to get a tan. In fact, people who use sunscreen when they tan are more likely to get melanoma.

And making the relationship more complicated is the fact that vitamin D protects against melanoma. People who have higher vitamin D levels are less likely to get melanoma. The skin makes vitamin D when it is exposed to the same spectrum of sunlight that increases the risk of cancer.

See Also: Dangers And Benefits Of Coffee: A Never-Ending Debate

The bottom line from the existing evidence is that if you have fair skin, it is definitely a bad idea to try to tan. It's a good idea to use sunscreen whenever you go out in bright sunlight. It also helps to drink regular, caffeinated coffee. Nothing offers 100% protection against skin cancer, but caffeinated coffee consumption may be the most important aspect of a lifestyle that reduces the risk of melanoma.