Caffeine and Cancer – The Truth You Can’t Deny
Written by Tom Brimeyer | Posted in Diet & Nutrition | 25 Comments
When I was young and naive, I use to despise coffee. Not because I believed that it had any sort of negative effects, but because of the idea of using something that I falsely believed to be nothing more than a stimulant, never sat well with me.
That was also the time when I truly believed that I was in perfect health. During this same time, my cholesterol and blood pressure started to rise and along with the emergence of a number of small and relatively subtle hypothyroidism symptoms that I chose to dismiss and ignore.
I continued to ignore coffee until I began to really study the effects of diet and the foods we eat on our human physiology. I actually started to understand how coffee affected my own physiology and that it was NOT just some sort of stimulant. It was much, much more than that. That’s when I started using it therapeutically with myself and my clients with quite amazing results.
The sheer fact that coffee alone has been shown to decrease mortality rates and increase longevity should be more than enough to convince most skeptics that there’s much more to coffee than meets the eye.
Aside from the mere fact that coffee will help you live longer, there have been a number of other recent studies on coffee showing the truly wide range of health benefits it has to offer. One such recent study was on caffeine and it’s affects on skin cancer.
Caffeine’s Effects on The Most Common Cancer
The most common cancer found today is a form of skin cancer called basal-cell carcinoma, affecting as many as 30% of people in their lifetime.
A recent study was published on the effects of caffeine on skin cancer where 112,897 people were followed over a 20 year period. Over this period of time, 22,786 people were diagnosed with basal cell carcinoma.
Increased Caffeine Intake Is Associated with Reduced Risk of Basal Cell Carcinoma of the Skin
http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/content/72/13/3282
Our findings argue that caffeine intake in men and women is inversely associated with risk of BCC.
Caffeine intake was analyzed throughout this study with respect to diet including tea, cola, and chocolate which are also sources of dietary caffeine aside from coffee. While these other sources of caffeine did help protect against this cancer, coffee proved to provide the most significant protection, likely because of the higher caffeine content as well as the additional nutrients that coffee provides.
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news for all of the decaf drinkers out there, but decaf coffee did not provide the same protective benefits.
The results of this study were also backed by the results of mice studies which have demonstrated the same effects on skin cancer.
Coffee is More Than Just a Food
If you believe that skin cancer is the only form of cancer that coffee helps to protect you against, then you would be greatly mistaken. There are many other very common forms of cancer that coffee and caffeine help to protect against including breast cancer, prostate cancer, and colon cancer, just to name a few.
It’s time that we stop looking at coffee as just some food and start seeing it for its true potential as an important nutrient that can help restore dysfunction and maintain the healthy function of the human body.
But it’s also important to use it correctly which most people do not. Today, most people rely on coffee just to get them through the day while ignoring the importance of their diet to their health. Coffee should be looked at and used as a supplement, and therefore play a role in supplementing an already health diet.
25 Responses to “Caffeine and Cancer – The Truth You Can’t Deny”
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Miriam Durham
10. Jul, 2012
What about the acid content especially in Type O blood?
Tom Brimeyer
10. Jul, 2012
The fundamentals of human physiology do not change with respect to your blood type and it’s the fundamentals that most people continue to ignore. If you continue to focus on your blood type as the end-all-be-all then you’ll continue to miss the bigger and more important picture.
Ola Lachney
10. Jul, 2012
Would a caffeine supplement work instead of coffee?
Tom Brimeyer
10. Jul, 2012
I don’t recommend it. If you don’t tolerate coffee then your taking it wrong or possibly too much.
Desiree
10. Jul, 2012
I would be interested in knowing if you all have adverse affects from caffeinated items such as coffee or tea? I seem to slip into a pannicky like hyper and almost panick attack like mode.
I have Hashimitos. I am fine on chocolate or hot cocoa, of course I don’t d
Tom Brimeyer
10. Jul, 2012
Those are signs that you are not drinking it correctly. Like everything, coffee should be properly balanced.
joan kirkham
30. Oct, 2012
I have the same reaction as Desiree and also Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. Cola products as well but not so much as coffee. What is the proper balance?
Tom Brimeyer
10. Jul, 2012
Long story short, fasting promotes hypothyroidism. When you don’t have food for your cells to use as energy, your body produces stress hormones to break down muscle and fat tissue for energy which is very thyroid suppressive. There’s a lot of misinformation out there… you have to be careful.
Tom Brimeyer
10. Jul, 2012
For starters, most people need plenty of fat with their coffee to slow down the digestive of it.
Diana Joy
11. Jul, 2012
Isn’t it nice that something as delicious as Coffee is beneficial! Thank Goodness! I also like Chocolate Covered Coffee Beans* Woo Hoo Double Joy!
* please take chocolate covered coffee beans in moderation*
Mike Johnson
11. Jul, 2012
What is the correct way to drink coffee?
Jen
11. Jul, 2012
Thank you again for all you are doing to help people! I have just received lab report: TSH 5.863. Prior to this, knew nothing about hypothyroidism whatsoever, and will be going back for another test in August. I have every single symptom that I have ever seen listed for being hypothryoid. I am shocked and worried, and researching a lot on the internet. I would love to buy your product and hope to soon, as I am desperate for relief. I read in a few reports that hypothyroidism is caused by a toxic body. Is this true?
Tom Brimeyer
12. Jul, 2012
Generally speaking, it’s not caused by a toxic body. It’s a lot more complicated than that.
Jen
12. Jul, 2012
What is it caused by?
Natalie
12. Jul, 2012
Love, love, love the balanced recipe you have for coffee… I use it to give me an afternoon boost. It picks up my energy, mood, and helps me get through the evening with my family of 6. BTW – In 3 months following your plan my TSH has gone from 9.5 to 6.4! It works and I’m sooooo thankful for your research!
Jen
12. Jul, 2012
Could you share this balanced recipe? I would love it! Thanks!
Gloria
12. Jul, 2012
I drink decaf because my eye -lid twitches from too much caffeine, Any ideas of what I can do to be able to drink regular. Also, my 50 year old son is sufferiing from a “hot” nodule since surviving severe c-diff ,pneumonia and respiratory arrest. Any info on controling hyperactive thyroid?
Melissa
16. Sep, 2012
What about the green coffee supplements that Dr. Oz recommends?
Tom Brimeyer
17. Sep, 2012
You have to be careful with all of these quick fix weight loss pills. There are a number of reasons why I wouldn’t recommend this but simply look at the study they are basing all of these promises on: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3267522/
This study used 16 people which is not a good sample size to begin with. If you actually look at the numbers it doesn’t make sense. The pill users lose a little bit of weight (3 lbs. of fat and 1.5 lbs. of muscle). The placebo group didn’t lose weight overall but they did lose 1.2 lbs. of fat and gained 1.2 lbs. of muscle… Needless to say, they have taken this study and spinned it every which way to sell pills. But the fact that the pill users lost muscle mass is clearly a sign that this is an unhealthy way to lose weight that will suppress your thyroid.
Ali S Lokhandwala
09. May, 2013
Mr Tom, I love to read all your articles. Could you please let me know what is the correct way to have coffee. Should it be taken with milk or without milk. Some of my friends say it should be without milk, if so than what is the reason for this.
krispv
13. May, 2013
I recently weaned myself off of the only caffeine I used – green tea. I did this thinking it could help my adrenal function. I had heard caffeine is very bad for the adrenals especially if yours are “spent”. Thoughts?
Tom Brimeyer
13. May, 2013
It’s not bad for the adrenals if used properly.
Ilana
25. Jul, 2013
Well, I do it one better, I think. I drink filter coffee (hand drip it through a funnel and filter paper (no machine necessary)). I’ve been drinkin filter coffee for years! In the past year I’ve started putting cocoa power at the bottom of my coffee mug, pouring a little hot water over the powder and mixing it and then adding the brewed filter coffee. Mmm! Delicious!
Clinton
28. Nov, 2016
So Coffee doesn’t hurt the thyroid?
Do you work for a Coffee company or get money from one? If not, I ask again the question I just asked above.. So coffee doesn’t hurt the thyroid?
I’d be thankful to hear from you!
Tom Brimeyer
28. Nov, 2016
Hi Clinton, yes coffee has many therapeutic properties similar to thyroid hormone (T3) and has been shown to be protective against a number of diseases including hypothyroidism, type 2 diabetes, certain types of cancer, Parkinson’s disease, etc… and the list goes on.
And no, I have no affiliation with any coffee companies, nor do I receive money from anyone. It’s simply the truth.