Coffee and Colon Cancer - Is There a Connection?

There has been considerable medical research done through the years in an attempt to determine if drinking a lot of coffee and colon cancer are connected.

It seems the question may have been answered - at least for the time being.

The results of some recent research reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute concludes that people who drink coffee daily - even four or more cups - are at no more risk of developing colon cancer than other people who do not drink coffee at all.

Dr. Xuehong Zhang and his team of researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health examined about a dozen studies from North America and Europe.

Research done in the past has produced varying results about whether coffee and tea raise the risk of colon cancer. Sugary sodas, meanwhile, are definitely linked to obesity and other disorders that are thought to boost the odds colon cancer in particular.

Obesity has also recently been identified as the number one cause of liver disease in both the United States and Canada. Up till recently, cirrhosis owned the top spot.

Those who researched the issue of coffee and tea consumption at the Harvard School of Public Health also concluded that there's no more risk of developing colon cancer among those who drink sweetened beverages daily. They did, however, find a small increase in the possibility of colon cancer among those who consumed a lot of tea -- 32 oz or more a day. This conclusion, however, is weak and is worthy of further research, they said.

Researchers investigated results from more than 730,000 test subjects scattered around the entire planet, during a time frame that covered between 6 and 20 years. 5,600 people eventually got colon cancer. The researchers said the findings weren't influenced much by factors such as gender, smoking and amount of alcohol consumption.

Given the enormous number of subjects included in the population studies, subjects' beverage choices and volumes varied greatly. There weren't a lot of adult subjects who drank more than two sweetened beverages a day, which led some on the editorial staff of the Journal to believe that this study won't be the last word on cancer risk and any connection to sweetened beverages.

But for coffee and tea drinkers, at least, the results of in this investigation will certainly be received as welcome news.

So have a java - in fact, have all you want.

For more information on topics related to this article, click on Colon Cancer.

George McKenzie is a retired TV anchor, medical reporter and radio talk show host. He is a frequent contributor to Colon Health Information, a resource site about colon health and wellness.

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