Drinking a cup of Joe or some tea for the holidays may be a good thing!
A study reviewed in the journal of the American Cancer Society found that people who drink either tea or coffee have a slightly lower risk of head and neck cancers, though it remains unclear if the drinks themselves directly reduce the risk.
Researchers analyzed data from 14 individual studies involving over 9,500 people with head and neck cancers and over 15,000 people without, compiled by the International Head and Neck Cancer Epidemiology Consortium.
The findings showed that individuals who drank less than four cups of caffeinated coffee daily and less than a cup of tea had a 17% and 9% lower chance, respectively, of developing head or neck cancer overall.
The study also highlighted that coffee drinkers had a reduced risk of developing oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancers located in the middle part of the throat, according to Yale Medicine. Meanwhile, tea drinkers who consumed less than a cup daily showed a lower risk of hypopharyngeal cancer, which affects the bottom part of the throat, per Johns Hopkins Medicine.
“While there has been prior research on coffee and tea consumption and reduced risk of cancer, this study highlighted their varying effects with different sub-sites of head and neck cancer, including the observation that even decaffeinated coffee had some positive impact,” said Dr. Yuan-Chin Amy Lee, senior author of the study from Huntsman Cancer Institute and the University of Utah School of Medicine, as reported by The Guardian.
“Perhaps bioactive compounds other than caffeine contribute to the potential anti-cancer effect of coffee and tea,” Lee added.
However, drinking more than one cup of tea daily was linked to a higher risk of laryngeal cancer, which forms in the larynx, the part of the throat responsible for controlling the vocal cords, according to the National Cancer Institute (NCI).
The study also acknowledged limitations, as participants self-reported their findings and were not asked about the specific types of tea or coffee consumed. Additional unaccounted factors may have influenced the results as well.
“In observational studies, it is very difficult to totally eliminate confounding effects, for example, of tobacco and alcohol from the statistical analysis,” Tom Sanders, a professor emeritus of nutrition and dietetics at King’s College London, told The Guardian.
“Consequently, people who drink a lot of coffee and tea may be more likely to avoid other harmful behaviors such as drinking alcohol and using tobacco and so may be at a lower risk of these cancers for other reasons,” added Sanders, who was not involved in the study.