Coffee consumption may be linked to a lower risk of basal cell carcinoma, the most common form of skin cancer, according to data from the Nurses’ Health Study and Health Professionals Follow-up Study.

"I would not recommend increasing your coffee intake based on these data alone," Jilai Han, PhD, associate professor at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Public Health, said in a news release. "However, our results add basal cell carcinoma to a list of conditions for which risk is decreased with increasing coffee consumption."

That list includes conditions, such as type 2 diabetes and Parkinson’s disease, with significantly negative health consequences, Han noted.

Basal cell carcinoma is slow-growing, but causes considerable morbidity and places a burden on healthcare systems, the researchers said. "Given the large number of newly diagnosed cases, daily dietary changes having any protective effect may have an impact on public health," Han said.

Of the 112,897 participants included in the analyses, 22,786 developed basal cell carcinoma during more than 20 years of follow-up in the two studies. An inverse association was observed between all coffee consumption and risk of basal cell carcinoma.

Similarly, an inverse association was seen between intake of caffeine from all dietary sources (coffee, tea, cola and chocolate) and risk of basal cell carcinoma. However, consumption of decaffeinated coffee was not associated with a decreased risk of basal cell carcinoma.

"These results really suggest that it is the caffeine in coffee that is responsible for the decreased risk of basal cell carcinoma associated with increasing coffee consumption," Han said. "This would be consistent with published mouse data, which indicate caffeine can block skin tumor formation. However, more studies in different population cohorts and additional mechanistic studies will be needed before we can say this definitively."

Neither coffee consumption nor caffeine intake was inversely associated with squamous cell carcinoma and melanoma.

Only 1,953 cases of squamous cell carcinoma and 741 cases of melanoma were recorded among the nearly 113,000 participants included in Han’s analyses.

"It is possible that these numbers are insufficient for any association with coffee consumption to be seen," Han said. "As the study participants are followed for a longer time, the number of cases of these conditions is likely to increase. We may be in a position in 10 years’ time to better address this issue."

The study appears in the July 1 issue of Cancer Research. To read the abstract and access the study via subscription or purchase, visit http://bit.ly/M16BTd.