Coffee and Tea Reduces Risks of Kidney Cancer

According to an analysis of data from 13 previous studies, coffee and tea may be protective against kidney cancer. These findings were published recently in the International Journal of Cancer.

Across the studies, people who drank three or more cups of coffee a day were 16 percent less likely to develop kidney cancer than those who averaged less than a cup per day. And those who sipped just one 8-ounce cup of tea each day had a 15 percent lower risk of the disease than non-drinkers.

The researchers are not sure what it is exactly that accounts for this effect.

For example, they explain, coffee and tea may increase the body’s sensitivity to the blood-sugar-regulating hormone insulin, and researchers suspect that insulin levels over time may affect kidney cancer risk.

Coffee and tea also contain antioxidant compounds that may help protect cells in the kidney from cancer-promoting damage, the researchers point out.

I also wonder whether the diuretic effects of caffeine has any impact.