Coffee Research

Dr. Marc Micozzi reports,

"A new study links drinking coffee to a lower risk of colon cancer.

This finding doesn’t surprise me one bit. As you 

know, coffee contains many natural, biologically 

active constituents that support digestion and colon 

health. In fact, many people enjoy a cup of coffee 

after a meal because it benefits their digestion 

and colon function. Of course, other studies show 

drinking coffee regularly also prevents dementia, 

heart disease, and other chronic diseases.

Coffee contains diterpenes, melanoidins, and 

polyphenols—all of which have anti-cancer 

activities, as well as many other health benefits. 

These compounds support the normal, healthy 

microbiome (probiotics) of the GI tract. They also act 

as antioxidants, influence bile secretion by the liver 

and gall bladder, and improve bowel functions such as 

capacity and motility.

For the new study, researchers surveyed 5,145 people 

with colon cancer and 4,097 people without colon 

cancer about their dietary habits. The researchers asked 

specifically about coffee consumption and whether the 

participants drank caffeinated, decaffeinated, boiled, expresso, instant, or filtered coffees.

Overall, researchers found coffee drinkers had a 

26 percent lower risk of developing colon cancer 

compared to non-coffee drinkers. They also found a 

strong dose-response effect. In other words, the more 

coffee the participant drank, the less likely they were 

to develop colon cancer.

Drinking one to two cups of coffee daily lowered 

colon cancer risk by 22 percent. Drinking two to 

two-and-one-half cups per day lowered risk by 41 

percent. And drinking more than two-and-one-half 

cups a day lowered a participant’s risk of getting 

colon cancer by a whopping 56 percent. To put it 

another way, this finding means drinking just three 

cups of coffee per day reduces your risk of colon 

cancer by more than half.

About Dr. Marc Micozzi

Marc S. Micozzi, M.D., Ph.D. was the founding editor-in-chief of the first U.S. journal in Complementary and Alternative Medicine and organized and edited the first US textbook in the field, Fundamentals of Complementary & Integrative Medicine in 1996. He has published nearly 300 articles in medical literature and is the author or editor of over 25 books. Dr. Micozzi served as Senior Investigator of cancer prevention at the National Cancer 

Institute, where he published the original research on diet, nutrition, and chronic disease. He continued this line of research as the Associate Director of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology and Director of the National Museum of Health and Medicine. In recent years, Dr. Micozzi has served as the Founding Director of the Policy Institute for Integrative Medicine in Bethesda, MD, working to educate policy makers, the health professions, and the general public about the opportunities for integrative medicine and the need for clean, clear science within our modern medical establishment. Dr. Micozzi writes a monthly newsletter called Insiders’Curesas well as a free e-letter called The Daily Dispatch.