Good news for all the coffee lovers! When you sip your morning cup of coffee, are you reducing or prevention of breast cancer at the same time? Yes, Drinking coffee may help breast cancer prevention in the postmenopausal woman.
Breast Cancer Research published a research study that coffee drinkers may lower their risk of developing a sub-type of breast tumor called estrogen-receptor negative breast cancer. Breast cancer may be sub-divided into hormone-responsive (estrogen receptor (ER) positive) and non-hormone-responsive subtypes (ER-negative). Estrogen-receptor negative (ER-negative) breast cancer is a more aggressive form and is more difficult to treat than estrogen-receptor positive breast tumors. It is less common, and only about 25% of all breast cancers are ER-negative.
Coffee and Breast Cancer – Is There a Link?
Breast Cancer Prevention Tips
Swedish researchers carried out a study at the Karolinska Institute suggested that women who drank five or more cups of coffee daily lowered their risk of developing ER-negative breast cancer by 57%. The results were same even after they controlled for other factors that increase the breast cancer risk such as
- Family history
- Drinking alcohol
- Dietary habits
- Hormone therapy use
- BMI
But researchers were quick to point out that this study doesn’t prove cause and effect, only that there’s a link between coffee drinking and estrogen-receptor negative breast cancer.
How Coffee Might help in Preventing Breast Cancer
Breast cancer prevention diet may include coffee that is a good source of antioxidants that protect cells from free radical damage. In fact, when researchers at the University of Scranton, Pennsylvania tested antioxidant levels of various kinds of foods, they found coffee to be the number one source of antioxidants in the American diet. Studies have already proved that antioxidants play a key role in reducing the risk of different types of cancer.
Many years ago, researchers concluded that the coffee increased the risk of breast cancer, but current studies fail to show this. In fact, some studies have suggested that drinking coffee may be protective against the disease. But more research is essential to determine whether it’s coffee that is lowering the risk of breast cancer and not some other habit that coffee drinkers have in common.
On the other hand, drinking too much coffee and other caffeinated beverages can cause undesirable health conditions like fibrocystic breasts. With this condition, women get nodules and multiple painful cysts in their breasts that fluctuate in size throughout their cycle.
So friends, enjoy your cup of coffee and the antioxidants it provides. But do follow moderation rule for your coffee too with a good diet and healthy lifestyle practice.
Share this information with all mothers and sisters and spread the awareness on benefits of drinking coffee and minimizing breast cancer risk factors.