Scientists at the University of Navarra have found that coffee consumption could be associated with a lower risk of developing breast cancer in the long term deadline after menopause. The scientific journal European Journal of Nutrition has just published this work of researchers from the School of Medicine of the academic center belonging to the group CIBEROBN of nutritional epidemiology directed by Miguel A. Martínez-González.

The study involved 10812 women from the project SUN (Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra) who provided information on their lifestyle habits, physical exercise, medical history, and frequency of consumption of 136 foods, including coffee. In addition, they periodically updated their health status, including pre- or postmenopausal status and family history of breast cancer. These women, free of the disease at the start of the study, were evaluated every two years during a 10-year average , during which time 101 new cases of breast cancer were confirmed.

Andrea Romanos-Nanclares, a predoctoral researcher who has a financial aid from the association Española Contra el Cáncer (AECC) for the development of her thesis at the University of Navarra, explains that the participants were initially divided into two groups: those who consumed more than one cup of coffee per day and those who consumed 1 cup or less. "The results of this research have not found a association between coffee consumption and breast cancer risk at the global level. However, we found that consumption of more than 1 cup of coffee per day was associated with a lower risk of developing breast cancer in postmenopausal women."

Positive effects, also in decaffeinated beverages

The data suggest that the reason does not seem to be caffeine (in fact, decaffeinated coffee also has a beneficial effect), but rather other minority components such as phenolic acids (polyphenols), diterpenes or chlorogenic acids, among others. "These substances are always present in coffee, in different proportions depending on the variety of coffee and its preparation, and have been shown to have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-tumor effects," explains Cristina Sánchez Quesada, researcher at the University of Jaén and first author of the study. 

The results of this study confirm some observations made in other investigations in which higher coffee consumption was associated with a lower risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women. Estefanía Toledo, coordinator of the study, highlights the "importance of carrying out more research on this subject that includes a larger issue of women in order to confirm these results". Even so, the conclusions now published support the proposals to include coffee as part of overall healthy dietary patterns.

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