We would like to revisit an issue we addressed a few years ago, the relationship between coffee and cancer. There is a lot of evidence that drinking coffee reduces cancer risk. And there was a concern that the chemical acrylamide in coffee could cause cancer. There was even a questionable lawsuit in California years ago seeking damages for every person who drank coffee! Where is the issue today and should coffee drinkers be concerned about the safety of coffee or plan to drink more to reduce their cancer risk.
The Acrylamide Lawsuit Against Coffee Roasters and Distributors
The lawsuit regarding coffee, acrylamide, and cancer had to do with California’s product warning requirement 65. Proposition 65 stipulates that, among other things, businesses must warn Californians if a product has chemicals that pose a significant risk of birth defects, cancer, or reproductive harm. The goal of the lawsuit was to collect lots of money from coffee roasters and distributors for everyone who drank coffee and was not properly warned. The problem that the law firm pursuing the lawsuit had was that they could not demonstrate cause and effect in regard to coffee and cancer risk. In fact, as we noted in our previous article, there was a lot of chicanery involved such as setting up websites that appeared to be authoritative sites but where just all show and no substance.
The proposition 65 acrylamide lawsuit was resolved in 2020 and an appeal dealt with in 2022. No risk of cancer from drinking coffee was found and, in fact, an appeals court said that the suit was and any potential label warnings would be a disservice to the underlying purpose of proposition 65 which was to protect Californians and not mislead them!
Coffee Is Good for You and Helps Prevent Cancer!
For several years we have known, based on scientific research, that drinking coffee helps reduce the risks of colorectal, liver, breast, and head and neck cancer. Our current best understanding of why this is has to do with the hundreds of antioxidants in coffee as well as the caffeine in your Java. Caffeine, lignans, flavonoids, and other polyphenols are found in roasted coffee. These substances increase energy output, regulate genes responsible for DNA repair, block cellular damage, block or slow cancer metastasis, and have a wide range of other anti-inflammatory functions. In addition, coffee reduces the risk of type II diabetes by reducing insulin resistance. This in turn helps reduce risks of breast, liver, colorectal and endometrial cancers and mortality from these cancers.
How Much Coffee Should You Drink to Get Its Health Benefits?
When scientists develop drugs for treating diseases one of the issues is called a dose to response curve. How much do you need to consume in order to receive the benefits of the medicine? The other issue is called a therapeutic window. At what point does the medicine benefit you and at what point is it toxic or does it cause harm? For coffee and its health benefits, simply drinking an 8 ounce cup of coffee each day helps reduce the risk of type II diabetes, the risk of various types of cancer, and even Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases. There is typically an increased benefit with more coffee per day up to about 6 cups at which the degree of benefit seems to level off. This is also the amount of coffee that commonly causes the jitters, anxiety, a faster heart rate or even an elevation of blood pressure.