Exclusive: Scientists say people with disease who drink two to four cups a day are less likely to see it return
People with bowel cancer who drink two to four cups of coffee a day are much less likely to see their disease come back, research has found.
People with the illness who consume that amount are also much less likely to die from any cause, the study shows, which suggests coffee helps those diagnosed with the UK’s second biggest cancer killer.
Experts said the findings were “promising” and speculated that, if other studies show the same effect, the 43,000 Britons a year diagnosed with bowel cancer may be encouraged to drink coffee. The disease claims about 16,500 lives a year – 45 a day.
A study of 1,719 bowel cancer patients in the Netherlands by Dutch and British researchers found that those who drank at least two cups of coffee had a lower risk of the disease recurring. The effect was dose dependent – those who drank the most saw their risk fall the most.
Patients who had at least five cups a day were 32% less likely than those who drank fewer than two cups to see their bowel cancer return, according to the paper, which was funded by the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) and has been published in the International Journal of Cancer.
Here’s the interesting bit.
“The association between coffee consumption and all-cause mortality was U-shaped; coffee intake seemed optimal at 3–5 cups/d with the lowest risk at 4 cups/d (HR: 0.68, 95% CI: 0.53, 0.88). Our results suggest that coffee consumption may be associated with a lower risk of CRC recurrence and all-cause mortality.”
Well, what exactly counts as a cup then?
“Coffee consumption in cups/d was then calculated by multiplying the frequency of consumption per day by the number of cups that were consumed. We further accounted for the differences in the sizes of cups by multiplying coffee in cups/d by 1 (for cup) or 1.5 (for mug).“
I guess the traditional 100 ml cups and the common 200 ml cups are all just cups, whereas 300 ml mug is clearly a mug. Who knows really, when the data is all self reported. I guess my 400 ml/d consumption should be roughly optimal.
Maybe the absolute volume is not what’s important to get the benefit?
So, if I use espresso cups or even dollhouse cups, I can easily hit that optimal cup number with a very small amount of coffee. 😁
A double espresso from 16g of beans is less than 40ml and stronger than a bigger lungo from a nespresso pod (~7g coffee).
Smaller cups tend to be stronger. That same double espresso with 130g ice and 100ml milk and blend until ice is crushed makes a pretty strong frappuccino.
From espresso to lungo / americano to Starbucks recreations, they all basically use the same dose but wildly varying cup size.
Cup to mug of the same strength filter coffee makes a difference though.