Metastatic colorectal cancer remains to be incurable in most cases. A new study revealed that coffee slows down the spread of colon cancer resulting in longer survival of patients.
“In 1,171 patients treated for metastatic colorectal cancer, those who reported drinking two to three cups of coffee a day were likely to live longer overall, and had a longer time before their disease worsened, than those who didn’t drink coffee,” Harvard Gazette reported.
Moreover, patients who drank more than four cups of coffee a day attained greater benefit in these measures. Benefit held whether patients drank caffeinated or decaffeinated coffee.
“Patients who consumed up to a single cup of coffee per day tended to survive 30 months post-diagnosis. But those who drank two or three cups daily survived 32 months. And those who consumed four or more cups a day saw their survival shoot up to 39 months,” co-lead author Christopher Mackintosh, a fourth-year medical student at the Mayo Clinic School of Medicine in Phoenix, stated.
According to Mackintosh, this new study pioneered in studying the effects of coffee on metastatic colorectal cancer patients. Antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and other properties found in coffee may be active against cancer.
Despite the findings, Mackintosh warned patients about the drastic increase in coffee consumption.
“If someone is a colorectal cancer patient and enjoys drinking coffee, they can continue to do so without fear of worsening cancer prognosis. Of course, decisions like these should always be discussed on a case-by-case basis with one’s personal health care professionals,” Mackintosh said.