Study: Coffee Linked to Lower Skin Cancer Risk

I already told you that coffee has been linked to lower rates of depression in women. New research suggests that it also protects against the most common form of skin cancer, basal cell carcinoma, a slow moving cancer that affects millions each year.

Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston reported the findings at a cancer-research conference on Monday. Examining data from the Nurses’ Health Study, which followed nearly 73,000 people for 24 years, they found that coffee consumption is inversely related to cancer risk—that the more you drink, the lower your risk of skin cancer.

Women coffee drinkers who consumed more than three cups a day saw a 20 percent risk reduction for basal cell carcinoma; three-a-day male drinkers had a 9 percent lower risk for developing it.

Skin cancer is the most common type of cancer in the United States, affecting over 2 million people annually, according to the Skin Cancer Foundation. Among skin cancers, basal cell carcinoma is the most common form, with a million new cases cropping up each year.

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