Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Tea and coffee intake in relation to risk of breast cancer in the Black Women’s Health Study

  • Original paper
  • Published:
Cancer Causes & Control Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Objective

Prospective studies of tea and coffee intake and breast cancer risk have yielded inconsistent results. None of these studies has reported separately on African-American women. We prospectively examined the relation of tea and coffee consumption to risk of breast cancer among 52,062 women aged 21–69 at enrollment in 1995 in the Black Women’s Health Study.

Methods

Dietary intake was assessed in 1995 and 2001 using a validated food frequency questionnaire. Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate incidence rate ratios (IRR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI), adjusted for breast cancer risk factors.

Results

During 12 years of follow-up through 2007, there were 1,268 incident cases of breast cancer. Intakes of tea, coffee, and caffeine were not significantly associated with the risk of breast cancer overall. The IRRs for consumption of ≥4 cups/day compared with none were 1.13 (95% CI 0.78–1.63) for tea and 1.03 (95% CI 0.77–1.39) for caffeinated coffee, and the IRR for the top quintile relative to the bottom quintile of caffeine intake was 1.04 (95% CI 0.87–1.24). Consumption of tea, coffee, and caffeine was not significantly associated with breast cancer risk according to menopausal status or hormone receptor status.

Conclusion

Our findings suggest that intakes of tea, coffee, and caffeine are not associated with the risk of breast cancer among African-American women.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Chun OK, Chung SJ, Song WO (2007) Estimated dietary flavonoid intake and major food sources of U.S. adults. J Nutr 137:1244–1252

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Mazur WM, Wahala K, Rasku S et al (1998) Lignan and isoflavonoid concentrations in tea and coffee. Br J Nutr 79:37–45

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Le Marchand L (2002) Cancer preventive effects of flavonoids—a review. Biomed Pharmacother 56:296–301

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. London S, Willett W, Longcope C et al (1991) Alcohol and other dietary factors in relation to serum hormone concentrations in women at climacteric. Am J Clin Nutr 53:166–171

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Kotsopoulos J, Eliassen AH, Missmer SA et al (2009) Relationship between caffeine intake and plasma sex hormone concentrations in premenopausal and postmenopausal women. Cancer 115:2765–2774

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Lucero J, Harlow BL, Barbieri RL et al (2001) Early follicular phase hormone levels in relation to patterns of alcohol, tobacco, and coffee use. Fertil Steril 76:723–729

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Ferrini RL, Barrett-Connor E (1996) Caffeine intake and endogenous sex steroid levels in postmenopausal women. The Rancho Bernardo Study. Am J Epidemiol 144:642–644

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Sun CL, Yuan JM, Koh WP et al (2006) Green tea, black tea and breast cancer risk: a meta-analysis of epidemiological studies. Carcinogenesis 27:1310–1315

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Larsson SC, Bergkvist L, Wolk A (2009) Coffee and black tea consumption and risk of breast cancer by estrogen and progesterone receptor status in a Swedish cohort. Cancer Causes Control 20:2039–2044

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Ishitani K, Lin J, Manson JE et al (2008) Caffeine consumption and the risk of breast cancer in a large prospective cohort of women. Arch Intern Med 168:2022–2031

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Ganmaa D, Willett WC, Li TY et al (2008) Coffee, tea, caffeine and risk of breast cancer: a 22-year follow-up. Int J Cancer 122:2071–2076

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Tang N, Zhou B, Wang B et al (2009) Coffee consumption and risk of breast cancer: a metaanalysis. Am J Obstet Gynecol 200:290.e291–290.e299

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Carey LA, Perou CM, Livasy CA et al (2006) Race, breast cancer subtypes, and survival in the Carolina Breast Cancer Study. JAMA 295:2492–2502

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Storey ML, Forshee RA, Anderson PA (2006) Beverage consumption in the US population. J Am Diet Assoc 106:1992–2000

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Rosenberg L, Adams-Campbell L, Palmer JR (1995) The Black Women’s Health Study: a follow-up study for causes and preventions of illness. J Am Med Womens Assoc 50:56–58

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Block G, Hartman AM, Naughton D (1990) A reduced dietary questionnaire: development and validation. Epidemiology 1:58–64

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Willett WC, Stampfer MJ, Manson JE et al (1996) Coffee consumption and coronary heart disease in women. A ten-year follow-up. JAMA 275:458–462

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Agricultural Research Service (2000) 1994–1996, 1998 Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals (CSFII). US Department of Agriculture, Beltsville, MD

  19. Willett W, Stampfer MJ (1986) Total energy intake: implications for epidemiologic analyses. Am J Epidemiol 124:17–27

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Kumanyika SK, Mauger D, Mitchell DC et al (2003) Relative validity of food frequency questionnaire nutrient estimates in the Black Women’s Health Study. Ann Epidemiol 13:111–118

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Hu FB, Stampfer MJ, Rimm E et al (1999) Dietary fat and coronary heart disease: a comparison of approaches for adjusting for total energy intake and modeling repeated dietary measurements. Am J Epidemiol 149:531–540

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Palmer JR, Adams-Campbell LL, Boggs DA et al (2007) A prospective study of body size and breast cancer in black women. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 16:1795–1802

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Bushman JL (1998) Green tea and cancer in humans: a review of the literature. Nutr Cancer 31:151–159

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. Wu AH, Arakawa K, Stanczyk FZ et al (2005) Tea and circulating estrogen levels in postmenopausal Chinese women in Singapore. Carcinogenesis 26:976–980

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  25. Kuruto-Niwa R, Inoue S, Ogawa S et al (2000) Effects of tea catechins on the ERE-regulated estrogenic activity. J Agric Food Chem 48:6355–6361

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  26. Wang Y, Ho CT (2009) Polyphenolic chemistry of tea and coffee: a century of progress. J Agric Food Chem 57:8109–8114

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  27. Wu AH, Yu MC, Tseng CC et al (2003) Green tea and risk of breast cancer in Asian Americans. Int J Cancer 106:574–579

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  28. Geleijnse JM, Witteman JC, Launer LJ et al (2000) Tea and coronary heart disease: protection through estrogen-like activity? Arch Intern Med 160:3328–3329

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  29. Rietveld A, Wiseman S (2003) Antioxidant effects of tea: evidence from human clinical trials. J Nutr 133:3285S–3292S

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  30. Kaaks R, Rinaldi S, Key TJ et al (2005) Postmenopausal serum androgens, oestrogens and breast cancer risk: the European prospective investigation into cancer and nutrition. Endocr Relat Cancer 12:1071–1082

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  31. Jernstrom H, Klug TL, Sepkovic DW et al (2003) Predictors of the plasma ratio of 2-hydroxyestrone to 16 alpha-hydroxyestrone among pre-menopausal, nulliparous women from four ethnic groups. Carcinogenesis 24:991–1005

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  32. Kabat GC, O’Leary ES, Gammon MD et al (2006) Estrogen metabolism and breast cancer. Epidemiology 17:80–88

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  33. Fowke JH, Qi D, Bradlow HL et al (2003) Urinary estrogen metabolites and breast cancer: differential pattern of risk found with pre- versus post-treatment collection. Steroids 68:65–72

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  34. Muti P, Bradlow HL, Micheli A et al (2000) Estrogen metabolism and risk of breast cancer: a prospective study of the 2:16 alpha-hydroxyestrone ratio in premenopausal and postmenopausal women. Epidemiology 11:635–640

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  35. Sowers MR, Crawford S, McConnell DS et al (2006) Selected diet and lifestyle factors are associated with estrogen metabolites in a multiracial/ethnic population of women. J Nutr 136:1588–1595

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  36. Horn-Ross PL, Lee M, John EM et al (2000) Sources of phytoestrogen exposure among non-Asian women in California, USA. Cancer Causes Control 11:299–302

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  37. Ferruzzi MG (2010) The influence of beverage composition on delivery of phenolic compounds from coffee and tea. Physiol Behav 100:33–41

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  38. Velentzis LS, Cantwell MM, Cardwell C et al (2009) Lignans and breast cancer risk in pre- and post-menopausal women: meta-analyses of observational studies. Br J Cancer 100:1492–1498

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  39. Hoelzl C, Knasmuller S, Wagner KH, et al. (2010) Instant coffee with high chlorogenic acid levels protects humans against oxidative damage of macromolecules. Mol Nutr Food Res

  40. Salvini S, Hunter DJ, Sampson L et al (1989) Food-based validation of a dietary questionnaire: the effects of week-to-week variation in food consumption. Int J Epidemiol 18:858–867

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  41. Bohlscheid-Thomas S, Hoting I, Boeing H et al (1997) Reproducibility and relative validity of food group intake in a food frequency questionnaire developed for the German part of the EPIC project. European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition. Int J Epidemiol 26(Suppl 1):S59–S70

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The project described was supported by Award Number R01CA058420 from the National Cancer Institute. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Cancer Institute or the National Institutes of Health. We acknowledge the dedication of the Black Women’s Health Study participants and staff.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Slone Epidemiology Center at Boston University, 1010 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA, 02215, USA

    Deborah A. Boggs, Julie R. Palmer & Lynn Rosenberg

  2. Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA

    Meir J. Stampfer & Donna Spiegelman

  3. Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA

    Meir J. Stampfer

  4. Department of Biostatistics, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA

    Donna Spiegelman

  5. Channing Laboratory, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Meir J. Stampfer

  6. Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA

    Lucile L. Adams-Campbell

Authors
  1. Deborah A. Boggs
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Julie R. Palmer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Meir J. Stampfer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Donna Spiegelman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Lucile L. Adams-Campbell
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Lynn Rosenberg
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Deborah A. Boggs.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Boggs, D.A., Palmer, J.R., Stampfer, M.J. et al. Tea and coffee intake in relation to risk of breast cancer in the Black Women’s Health Study. Cancer Causes Control 21, 1941–1948 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-010-9622-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-010-9622-6

Keywords

Search

Navigation