Slip, slop, slap, seek, slide… sip: Coffee & skin cancer

As a skin cancer risk protection strategy, there’s no substitute for reducing ultraviolet exposure with sunscreens, shade and protective clothing and eyewear. But our addiction to coffee may be a helpful addition to our skin protection strategy.

Coffee and melanoma

A study has shown that people who drank coffee regularly were less likely to develop melanoma, a potentially life-threatening form of skin cancer. Published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute in 2015¹, the study showed that:

• Over a period of ten years, white-skinned people aged 50 to 71 were 20% less likely to develop melanoma if they drank four cups of coffee per day compared with those who drank none.
• People who drank three cups of coffee daily were 10 per cent less likely to develop melanoma. In other words, the more coffee they drank, the greater the protective effect.
• The risk reduction only applied for caffeinated coffee.
• Coffee drinkers’ risk of melanoma in situ (the earliest, least aggressive stage of melanoma) was not reduced.

Coffee and basal cell carcinoma

Other studies^{2, 3} have suggested that coffee could also decrease the risk of basal cell carcinoma, a less serious but more common form of skin cancer. Both of the studies showed that people who consumed three cups of coffee per day had a significantly lower risk of developing basal cell carcinoma.

• This effect might be greater in women than men (in one study, there was a 20% reduction in risk for women vs. a nine per cent reduction for men).
• The risk reduction is greater if more coffee is consumed.
• The risk reduction applies for caffeinated coffee and for hot tea containing caffeine.

“The more coffee you drink, the lower the risk of basal cell carcinoma”

How does it work?

Several compounds in coffee, including caffeine, have been shown in experiments to reduce ultraviolet-induced damage to skin cells. Caffeine may also act as a kind of sunscreen by absorbing ultraviolet radiation.

Disclaimer

It’s important to remember that these findings aren’t conclusive. They show an association between coffee consumption and reduced skin cancer incidence. In other words, the studies do not conclude that coffee consumption is the cause of reduced skin cancer incidence. The best method of reducing skin cancer risk is still to minimise exposure to excessive ultraviolet radiation. So make sure that sunscreen becomes as much a part of your daily routine as your morning beverage.

References

1. Loftfield E, Freedman N, Graubard L et al 2015. Coffee drinking and cutaneous melanoma risk in the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study. JNCI: Journal of the National Cancer Institute, volume 107, issue 2, 1 February 2015. https://doi.org/10.1093/jnci/dju421
2. Ferucci L, Cartmel B, Molinaro A et al 2014 Tea, coffee, and caffeine and early-onset basal cell carcinoma in a case-control study. European Journal of Cancer Prevention. 23(4):296–302, Jul 2014. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4059399/
3. Song F, Qureshi A, Han J 2011 Abstract B106: Coffee consumption and the risk of skin cancer. Cancer Prev Res October 1 2011 (4) (10 Supplement) B106. https://cancerpreventionresearch.aacrjournals.org/content/4/10_Supplement/B106