Elsevier

Oral Oncology

Volume 39, Issue 7, October 2003, Pages 695-700
Oral Oncology

Coffee and tea intake and risk of oral, pharyngeal and esophageal cancer

https://doi.org/10.1016/S1368-8375(03)00081-2Get rights and content

Abstract

The relation between coffee, decaffeinated coffee, tea and oral/pharyngeal, and esophageal cancer risk is inadequately quantified. Data were derived from hospital-based case-control studies conducted in Italy and Switzerland. The study on oral/pharyngeal cancer included 749 cases and 1772 controls, and that of esophageal cancer 395 cases and 1066 controls. Multivariate odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were computed. The OR for >3 cups/day of coffee compared with ⩽1 were 0.6 (95% CI 0.5–0.9) for oral/pharyngeal, and 0.6 (95% CI 0.4–0.9) for esophageal cancer, consistent across strata of age, sex, education and alcohol. The inverse trends in risk were significant. No association emerged with decaffeinated coffee (OR 1.1 for oral/pharyngeal and 0.6 for esophageal cancer) or tea (OR 0.9 for both cancers), consumed in low amounts by these populations. Coffee may decrease the risk of oral/pharyngeal and esophageal cancer.

Introduction

The relation between the intake of beverages containing methylxanthines, particularly coffee, and risk of cancer of the oral cavity, pharynx and esophagus has not been extensively studied. Evidence published before 1990 was reviewed in a Monograph of the International Agency for Research on Cancer.1 It included six studies which found little evidence of association with coffee consumption, except for a possible association with very high temperature.1 Since then, at least one cohort2 and some case-control studies3, 4, 5, 6, 7 found no appreciable relation between coffee intake and cancers of the upper digestive tract. In another study on esophageal cancer, coffee intake was not associated with risk, while other hot beverages, including coffee with milk, increased the risk.8 Two case-control studies from China9, 10 showed a protection of tea intake on esophageal cancer risk, while a British study on esophageal cancer in women found an increased risk in relation to tea intake and no association with coffee.11

To further evaluate the potential role of coffee, decaffeinated coffee and tea intake in the aetiology of upper digestive tract cancers we have analysed a series of case-control studies conducted in Italy and Switzerland.12, 13, 14, 15

Section snippets

Subjects and methods

Data were obtained from two hospital-based case-control studies with the same design, questionnaire and inclusion criteria.12, 13, 14, 15 Information was collected between 1991 and 1997 in northern Italy (greater Milan, the provinces of Pordenone and Padua), central Italy (the province of Latina), and in the Swiss Canton of Vaud.

Cases were patients younger than 80 years with incident, histologically confirmed cancers of the oral cavity and pharynx (749 cases, median age 57 years), or esophagus

Results

The distribution of cases and controls according to age, sex and major risk factors for cancers of the upper digestive tract is reported in Table 1. Cases of oral and pharyngeal and esophageal cancers were less educated, more frequently heavy smokers and heavy alcohol drinkers and consumed less frequently vegetables and fruit.

Table 2 shows the distribution and the corresponding OR of cancers of the upper digestive tract according to intake of coffee, decaffeinated coffee and tea. Compared to

Discussion

These results support the presence of an inverse association between coffee intake and risk of cancer of oral cavity, pharynx and esophagus. No material modification of risk was found in relation to decaffeinated coffee and tea intake, although consumption of these beverages was limited in these populations, and consequently this study had inadequate power to detect any possible relation.

The two studies combined in the present analysis are hospital-based, but cases were identified in the major

Acknowledgements

Supported by the Commission of the European Communities (Contract no. QLKI-CT-2000-00069), the Italian Association for Research on Cancer, and the Italian and Swiss Leagues against Cancer. The Authors thank Mrs. M.P. Bonifacino for editorial assistance.

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