Inverse Correlation Between Caffeine And Oral Cancer

Cancer seems to be the final frontier of medicine, the only disease keeping humanity from the semi-utopian future envisioned in the minds of great sci-fi writers like Arthur C. Clarke, in which humans live for hundreds of years at a time. Every other disease can be contained, avoided, quarantined or outright cured, but cancer is much more difficult; it is the result of our own bodies turning against us, and killing us in the process, and as we cannot reprogram the human genome, and a lot of cancer is inoperable, and untreatable, it is the nightmare reality of all too many people world wide.

Prevention

Cancer research, although it has been around for a long, long time, is still far away from a cure, even though many steps in maintaining health and in providing good conditions of living for patients suffering from this disease.

Right now, the focus of almost all cancer research is prevention. This is only natural, as once the tumors and carcinomas are formed, there is not much that modern medical science can do to help. And this is why the following study is so important.

The Correlation Between Caffeine And Cancer

According to a recent study made by the American Cancer Society, there is a strong inverse correlation, or even association between consuming caffeinated coffee and the risk of developing oral or pharyngeal cancer. This means that it seems that folks who drink caffeinated coffee have fewer instances of developing oral or pharyngeal cancer. This is an awesome find, and can mark the beginnings of further research into developing a system through which the lives of cancer patients can be bettered.

The study found that people who drank at least 4 cups of caffeinated coffee a day were half as likely to die of oral or pharyngeal cancer. The same correlation did not exist with non caffeinated coffee, tea, or any other substance studied. This study was carried out over 26 years, with an enrolment of 968, 432 men and women, and of these, 868 died of oral or pharyngeal cancer. The study suggests that those who drank 4 cups of coffee a day were 46% less likely to die of these ailments. The study also suggests that this correlation exists regardless of sex, smoking status, or abuse of alcohol. One more reason to start your day with a cup of joe, I guess.

Conclusion

Although many conclusions can be drawn, this correlation may prove to be fictitious over time. But right now, it seems really strong, and further research into utilizing caffeine as a cancer treatment substance is likely to provide useful results. This does not mean that you will not get cancer if you drink coffee; this merely means that your likelihood of contracting oral cancer is much lower if you drink more than 4 cups a day.

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