ST. LOUIS, MO. (KTVI)- Coffee is relied on by millions of Americans as the kick they need to get their morning started. According to an article by the Huffington Post, over 400 millions cups of coffee are consumed in the United States each day.
Coffee may be the the fuel to get you going in the morning, but a new study suggests regular consumption of coffee may help prevent colon cancer. The study was completed as a joint effort between the University of Southern California (USC) and Clalit National Israeli Cancer Control Center (NICCC).To explain the results of the study, Dr. Jean Wang, an expert in colon cancer, joined Margie in the Fox 2 studio this morning. Dr. Wang is a gastroenterologist for Barnes-Jewish Hospital and an associate professor at Washington University in St. Louis.
According to the study, researchers from USC and NICCC looked at data from 5,100 people in Israel who had recently been diagnosed with colon cancer and 4,000 people with no history of it. They asked them about their coffee habits, along with many other lifestyle habits. Specifically, the participants were asked what kinds of coffee they drank-espresso, decaf, regular, instant-and how much.
There was a clear connection between coffee drinking and not being diagnosed with colon cancer. People who drank between one and two cups per day had a 25% reduced chance of having colon cancer, and this reduction rose to 50% when a person drank more than two and a half cups per day.
Even though regular coffee consumption may help prevent cancer, it is not an excuse to skip regular colonoscopy check-ups.
