When you open your lips to invite bitter, crisp whisps of coffee to enter your body you probably aren’t thinking of what a power of good it is doing for your colon. Most likely you are looking for the mists of sleep, or clouds of afternoon lethargy, to be lifted by your favourite beverage or perhaps you are just wanting to enjoy the taste as it caresses your tongue. Whatever your intended reasons for embracing that daily coffee, new research has shown that it is decreasing your risk of developing colorectal cancer.
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The study compared 5,145 people diagnosed with colorectal cancer to 4,097 people who did not have the disease. The subjects all completed a food frequency questionnaire that examined their daily intake of espresso, instant coffee, decaffeinated coffee, filter coffee, and other beverages. The subjects also filled out questionnaires detailing family history of cancer, diet, physical activity levels, smoking habits, and other factors that may lower colorectal cancer risk.
The results showed that drinking one to two servings of coffee per day reduced the risk of colorectal cancer by 26 per cent compared to people who drank less coffee than that. Additionally, people who had more than 2.5 cups of coffee per day had a 50 per cent lower risk of colon cancer. These findings held true even when all other factors that reduce colorectal cancer were taken into account and it held true for all types of coffee, including decaffeinated coffee.
Clearly it is not the caffeine in coffee doing it so what is in coffee that can protect your colon? For a start there are antioxidants like chlorogenic acid but there are also melanoidins which are produced during the roasting process and which boost colonic mobility. Coffee also contains diterpene which can boost the body’s own defences against oxidative damage. All of these things exist in coffee to vaying degrees depending on the bean, how it is processed, and how it is brewed.
Still, this study suggests that your colon loves your coffee as much as you do.
