Prevention: Coffee, green tea lower risk of prostate cancer

Men who regularly drink coffee – caffeinated or decaf – are significantly less likely to develop prostate cancer.  And the more java, the better.

According to a Harvard study published online on May 17 in The Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Harvard scientists followed 47,911 men who periodically described their coffee intake. The researchers found that those who consumed six or more cups a day were almost 20 percent less likely to develop prostate cancer over two decades than those who drank none. The study was part of the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study.

The study also showed that men who drank six or more cups of coffee a day were 60 percent less likely to develop deadly metastatic prostate cancer than men who drank no coffee. A similar reduction was shown with decaffeinated coffee drinkers. One to three cups cut the risk of lethal prostate cancer by 30 percent. Coffee and chocolate both contain anti-inflammatory antioxidants and minerals that are associated with reducing the prostate cancer risk.

Green tea lowers risk too

Consumption of green tea has long been a favorite anti-inflammatory antioxidant among holistic healers. Apparently, they are right. In 2009, a study published in Cancer Prevention Research showed that men with prostate cancer who drank green tea showed a significant reduction in certain serum markers — including protein-specific antigen — which are predictive of prostate cancer progression.

Researchers in China have also found that the risk of prostate cancer declined with green tea consumption. Green tea contains antioxidants, which destroy free radicals produced when our bodies convert food to energy. Left unchecked, free radicals can lead to cell and DNA damage, putting people at greater risk of cancer and other diseases.