Good buzz: coffee may reduce breast cancer risk

Coffee can give you a jolt of caffeine, but a new study published May 11 suggests that heavy daily consumption may also reduce the risk of developing a certain type of breast cancer.

Study results found that women who drink five or more cups of coffee a day are 57 percent less likely to develop estrogen receptor-negative breast cancer than women who drink less than a cup of coffee a day, said study researcher Jingmei Li, of the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, in a statement. Estrogen receptor-negative breast cancer is just one kind of breast cancer, and its growth is not dictacted by estrogen.

This study supports a German study that found a similar trend, but the “relationship was much weaker” Li said. However, health news source MyHealthNewsDaily cites conflicting research: A review of studies published last year showed that coffee had a protective effect on endometrial and colorectal cancers, but no benefits for breast, pancreatic, ovarian, or prostate cancers.

In research published earlier this year, scientists discovered that drinking four cups of coffee a day can slash your risk for Type 2 diabetes in half.

"I wouldn't necessarily tell my patients after reading an article like this to drink more than five cups of coffee a day to lower your risk of a particular type of breast cancer," said Dr. Michelle Shayne, an oncologist at University of Rochester Medical Center in New York, in an interview with MyHealthNewsDaily. "It's just that if you happen to enjoy coffee consumption, you may possibly have an added benefit of protection against one subtype of breast cancer."

The study, published the journal Breast Cancer Research, can be accessed here: http://breast-cancer-research.com/content/13/3/R49