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Effect of coffee consumption on all-cause and total cancer mortality: findings from the JACC study

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Abstract

Coffee consumption is known to be related to various health conditions. Recently, its antioxidant effects have been suggested to be associated with all-cause or cancer mortality by various cohort studies. However, there has been only one small Asian cohort study that has assessed this association. Thus, we tried to assess the association of coffee with all-cause and total cancer mortality by conducting a large-scale cohort study in Japan. A total of 97,753 Japanese men and women aged 40–79 years were followed for 16 years. Hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals of all-cause and total cancer mortality in relation to coffee consumption were calculated from proportional-hazards regression models. A total of 19,532 deaths occurred during the follow-up period; 34.8% of these deaths were caused by cancer. The all-cause mortality risk decreased with increasing coffee consumption in both men and women, with a risk elevation at the highest coffee consumption level (≥4 cups/day) compared with the 2nd highest consumption level in women, although the number of subjects evaluated at this level was small. No association was found between coffee consumption and total cancer mortality among men, whereas a weak inverse association was found among women. The present cohort study among the Japanese population suggested that there are beneficial effects of coffee on all-cause mortality among both men and women. Furthermore, the results showed that coffee consumption might not be associated with an increased risk of total cancer mortality.

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Abbreviations

95% CI:

95 percent confidence interval

BMI:

Body mass index

HR:

Hazard ratio

JACC Study:

Japan Collaborative Cohort Study for Evaluation of Cancer Risk

MI:

Myocardial infarction

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Acknowledgments

We wish to express our sincere appreciation to Drs. Kunio Aoki and Yoshiyuki Ohno, Professors Emeritus of the Nagoya University School of Medicine and former chairpersons of the JACC Study. We are also greatly indebted to Dr. Haruo Sugano, former Director of the Cancer Institute, Tokyo, who greatly contributed to the initiation of the JACC Study, Dr. Tomoyuki Kitagawa, Director Emeritus of the Cancer Institute of the Japanese Foundation for Cancer Research and former chairman of the Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Priority Area ‘Cancer’ and to Dr. Kazao Tajima, Aichi Cancer Center and previous chairman of the Grant-in Aid for Scientific Research on Priority Area of Cancer Epidemiology, for their warm encouragement and support of this study. This work was supported by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture of Japan (Monbusho), and Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Priority Areas of Cancer, as well as Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Priority Areas of Cancer Epidemiology from the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (Monbu-Kagaku-sho) (Nos. 61010076, 62010074, 63010074, 1010068, 2151065, 3151064, 4151063, 5151069, 6279102, 11181101, 17015022, 18014011, 20014026 and 20390156).

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest.

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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Akiko Tamakoshi.

Additional information

The member list of the JACC study group are listed in the "Appendix".

Appendix: Member list of the JACC study group

Appendix: Member list of the JACC study group

The present members of the JACC Study Group who co-authored this paper together with their affiliations are as follows: Dr. Akiko Tamakoshi (present chairperson of the study group), Aichi Medical University School of Medicine; Drs. Mitsuru Mori & Fumio Sakauchi, Sapporo Medical University School of Medicine; Dr. Yutaka Motohashi, Akita University School of Medicine; Dr. Ichiro Tsuji, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine; Dr. Yosikazu Nakamura, Jichi Medical School; Dr. Hiroyasu Iso, Osaka University School of Medicine; Dr. Haruo Mikami, Chiba Cancer Center; Dr. Michiko Kurosawa, Juntendo University School of Medicine; Dr. Yoshiharu Hoshiyama, University of Human Arts and Sciences; Dr. Naohito Tanabe, Niigata University School of Medicine; Dr. Koji Tamakoshi, Nagoya University Graduate School of Health Science; Dr. Kenji Wakai, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine; Dr. Shinkan Tokudome, National Institute of Health and Nutrition; Dr. Koji Suzuki, Fujita Health University School of Health Sciences; Dr. Shuji Hashimoto, Fujita Health University School of Medicine; Dr. Shogo Kikuchi, Aichi Medical University School of Medicine; Dr. Yasuhiko Wada, Faculty of Human Life and Environmental Science, Kochi Women’s University; Dr. Takashi Kawamura, Kyoto University Center for Student Health; Dr. Yoshiyuki Watanabe, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine Graduate School of Medical Science; Dr. Kotaro Ozasa, Radiation Effects Research Foundation; Dr. Tsuneharu Miki, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine Graduate School of Medical Science; Dr. Chigusa Date, School of Human Science and Environment, University of Hyogo; Dr. Kiyomi Sakata, Iwate Medical University; Dr. Yoichi Kurozawa, Tottori University Faculty of Medicine; Drs. Takesumi Yoshimura & Yoshihisa Fujino, University of Occupational and Environmental Health; Dr. Akira Shibata, Kyushu University Institute of Health Science; Dr. Naoyuki Okamoto, Kanagawa Cancer Center; and Dr. Hideo Shio, Moriyama Municipal Hospital.

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Tamakoshi, A., Lin, Y., Kawado, M. et al. Effect of coffee consumption on all-cause and total cancer mortality: findings from the JACC study. Eur J Epidemiol 26, 285–293 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10654-011-9548-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10654-011-9548-7

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