A new meta-analysis of 22 population studies highlighted on the ISIC web site suggests that coffee consumption might be associated with a decreased risk of gastric cancer.
In Y Xie et al, 2016, Coffee consumption and risk of gastric cancer: an updated meta-analysis, which was published in Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Volume 25 (3), the authors of the study noted that coffee is one of the most widely consumed beverages worldwide, and many studies have investigated the association between coffee consumption and gastric cancer. However, the results were inconsistent, so they conducted a systematic analysis of relevant population studies to derive a more precise estimation. Cochrane library, PubMed and Embase databases were searched to identify studies that met predetermined inclusion criterion through July 2014. All epidemiologic studies regarding coffee consumption and gastric cancer risk were selected, and relative risks (RRs) with 95 per cent confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated.
Twenty two studies (nine cohort and 13 case-control studies) involving 7,631 cases and 1,019,693 controls were included. The summary RR of gastric cancer was 0.94 (95 per cent CI: 0.80-1.10) for the highest category of coffee consumption compared with the lowest category, and 0.93 (95 per cent CI: 0.88-0.99) for coffee drinkers compared with non-drinkers. The researchers stratified the population by coffee consumption. The pooled RR for the population with <1 cup/day, 1-2 cups/day and 3-4 cups/day coffee consumption compared with non-drinkers were 0.95 (95 per cent CI: 0.84-1.08), 0.92 (95 per cent CI: 0.82-1.03) and 0.88 (95 per cent CI: 0.76-1.02), respectively, indicating that an increase in coffee consumption was associated with a decreased risk of gastric cancer. They also stratified the studies by design, sex, population and time. A significant association between coffee intake and decreased gastric cancer risk was shown in case-control studies (RR=0.85, 95 per cent CI: 0.77-0.95) and among the studies published over the last ten years (RR=0.88, 95 per cent CI: 0.77-1.00).
The meta-analysis therefore suggested that coffee consumption might be associated with a decreased risk of gastric cancer.
