Coffee Intake and Gastric Cancer Risk: The Singapore Chinese Health Study

Abstract

Background Despite experimental evidence showing chemopreventive effects of coffee-related compounds on gastric carcinogenesis, epidemiologic studies generally do not support coffee-gastric cancer associations. Observational data are lacking among high-risk populations with sufficient regular coffee consumption. Methods We examined the association between caffeinated coffee intake and gastric cancer risk in a population-based cohort that enrolled 63,257 Chinese men and women aged 45–74 years between 1993 and 1998 in Singapore. Incident gastric cancer cases (n=647) were identified after a mean follow-up of 14.7 years. Biomarkers of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection were measured in a subset of gastric cancer cases with blood collected prior to cancer diagnosis and their matched controls. Results In the total cohort, daily versus non-daily coffee intake was associated with a statistically non-significant decrease in gastric cancer risk [hazards ratio (HR) = 0.85; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.69, 1.04). In women, the inverse association strengthened and reached statistical significance (HR=0.63; 95% CI: 0.46, 0.87). In analyses restricted to never smokers and nondrinkers of alcohol, inverse associations strengthened in the total cohort (HR=0.69; 95% CI: 0.52, 0.91) and in women (HR=0.52; 95% CI: 0.37, 0.74). There was no coffee-gastric cancer risk association among men, regardless of smoking status or alcohol consumption. Similar results were observed in the nested case-control study after adjustment for H. pylori infection. Conclusion Daily coffee consumption may reduce the risk of gastric cancer in high-risk populations, especially among women. Impact: Research aimed at identifying the compounds in coffee that may protect against gastric carcinogenesis is warranted.

Coffee Consumption and the Risk of Colorectal Cancer

“…The results from this study support the growing body of evidence suggesting coffee consumption as a protective factor for CRC (11, 15, 23) and as a predictor of reduced CRC recurrence and death (24). However, there are differences in results and interpretations of case-control and cohort studies (14, 18), possibly due to the different time period of exposure considered relative to cancer diagnosis.…”

Composite protective lifestyle factors and risk of developing gastric adenocarcinoma: the Singapore Chinese Health Study

“…The details of this case–control study have been previously reported (Ainslie-Waldman et al , 2014). …”

Coffee Consumption and Risk of Gastric Cancer: A Large Updated Meta-Analysis of Prospective Studies

“…Therefore, the possibility that smoking is responsible for the observed positive association merits further considerations because of the strong correlation between coffee consumption and cigarette smoking [10,12]. This possibility was somewhat supported by the results from Singapore Chinese Health Study [16], in which daily coffee consumption significantly decreased gastric cancer risk in non-smokers, and non-significantly increased the risk in smokers. Despite taking into account the number of cigarettes smoked, the possibility of confounding by smoking remains because of the relatively rough measurement of smoking.…”

“…Only the Singapore Chinese Health Study [16] had taken into account the influence of helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection, and the results were similar before and after adjustment for H. pylori. There was one study [10] that considered filtered and boiled coffee separately, and no difference was found.…”