Study finds that coffee could prevent colon cancer from returning

A new study has found that drinking two to three cups of coffee a day could be extremely beneficial for people recovering from colon cancer.

A team followed about 1,000 people with stage III colon cancer that had spread to nearby lymph nodes but not the rest of their body. They each had surgery and chemotherapy, and kept diaries of what they ate on a daily basis and how long they exercised. In the Journal of Clinical Oncology, the team reported that those who drank four or more cups of coffee a day were 42 percent less likely to have their cancer return than those who did not drink coffee, and 33 percent less likely to die of colon cancer or anything else during the study period. Drinking two to three cups per day was found to be slightly more beneficial.

Not all caffeinated beverages have the same benefits, though, said Dr. Charles Fuchs, an author of the study from Boston's Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. "People who consumed two or more sugar-sweetened beverages a day have a poorer outcome," he told NBC News. The team did not ask if the patients drank their coffee black, or with milk or sugar, and those questions will be asked in a follow-up study. Previous studies have shown that coffee can lower the risk of Parkinson's disease, diabetes, and cancer, and it could be because of antioxidants in coffee or microbes in the gut. "The bottom line is that there are patients for whom the cancer recurs despite our best efforts and we wanted to see what diet and lifestyle could modify that risk," Fuchs said.

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