Caffeine may snap skin cancer odds
POSTED February 27, 2009 - 11:30 | POSTED BY Jyoti Pal
Last edited by Shikha Patial on February 27, 2009 - 12:24
Seattle, February 27: Regular intake of caffeine, either through tea, coffee or colas snaps the risk of developing skin cancerdefine, a new research confirms. The best thing – more was definitely better.
While previous studies have always seconded this thought, the results of the new study featuring in the Feb. 26 online issue of the Journal of Investigative Dermatology addressed the "why?" issue.
For the study, researchers at the University of Washington in Seattle enrolled over 90,000 Caucasian women. Results revealed that with each additional cup of caffeinated coffee ingested, the risk of developing nonmelanoma skin cancerdefine snapped by 5 percent. However, drinking decaffeinated coffee failed to put up similar results, researchers revealed.
Nonmelanoma skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in humans. Its incidence is typically associated with an increased sun exposure (UV light), the use of UV tanning lamps and sunbeds.
Under normal circumstances, the DNA damage is repaired by a protein called ATR.
"ATR is caffeine's target in the cell. Cells that are damaged, precancerous or dividing have more need of ATR, and if you suppress ATR with caffeine, you can selectively kill the cells with those features", Paul Nghiem of the University of Washington explained.
“Adding caffeine seems to stimulate more cells into triggering their suicide sequence (called apoptosis) — while only about 1 out every 500 cells will undergo apoptosis when exposed to UV, about 1 out of every 200 do when caffeine enters the picture”, he added.
Caffeine has no effect on undamaged cells, he emphasized.
Interestingly, topical application of caffeine also put forth the same benefits. "Caffeine itself is a potent sunscreen", Nghiem said.
But the results should be comprehended with caution. "The finding doesn't mean that you should start guzzling down coffee and tea," Nghiem cautioned.
"We are by no means recommending that people change their beverage habits," Nghiem said. "It would take regularly drinking six cups of coffee a day to decrease the risk of incidence by just 30 percent, and tea has only half the potency of coffee" he added.
