Caffeinated drinks lower your risk of basal cell carcinoma

Increasing the number of cups of caffeinated coffee you drink could lower your risk of developing skin cancer, according to a new study.

Basal cell carcinoma is the most common form of skin cancer. Unlike melanoma, there is a low risk with basal cell carcinoma that it will spread to other parts of the body, and around 90 per cent of people with this form will achieve a complete cure.

Researchers looked at data from the Nurses’ Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study, totalling around 112,897 participants.

Writing in the journal Cancer Research, an inverse association was observed between all coffee consumption and risk of basal cell carcinoma.

An inverse association was also seen between intake of caffeine from all dietary sources- coffee, tea, cola and chocolate- and basal cell carcinoma.

The same association was not seen with decaffeinated coffee, and neither coffee consumption nor caffeine intake was associated with the other forms of skin cancer.

Jiali Han, associate professor at Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, said:

"I would not recommend increasing your coffee intake based on these data alone. However, our results add basal cell carcinoma to a list of conditions for which risk is decreased with increasing coffee consumption."

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