Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Coffee, black tea and risk of gastric cancer

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

Abstract

Background

To provide information about the association of coffee, black tea with gastric cancer risk.

Methods

Between 1985 and 2007, we conducted two case–control studies in northern Italy. Overall, cases were 999 subjects with incident, histologically confirmed gastric cancer and controls were 2,628 patients admitted to the same network of hospitals for acute non-neoplastic diseases. Odds ratios (OR) and the corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CI) for coffee (mostly espresso and mocha) and black tea consumption were estimated after allowance for socio-demographic data, smoking, and other major covariates of interest.

Results

When compared with non-coffee drinkers, the OR was 0.94 (95% CI: 0.73–1.22) for drinkers of one cup of coffee per day, 1.03 (95% CI: 0.80–1.32) for two, 1.07 (95% CI: 0.82–1.40) for three, and 1.24 (95% CI: 0.94–1.65) for four or more cups per day. No association was found with reference to duration of coffee consumption, or consumption of decaffeinated coffee. When compared with non–black-tea drinkers, the OR was 0.89 (95% CI: 0.56–1.42) for drinkers of two or more cups of black tea per day.

Conclusions

Our investigation, based on a uniquely large dataset, provides convincing evidence that coffee and black tea consumption is unlikely to be strongly associated with gastric cancer risk.

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. Tokui N, Yoshimura T, Fujino Y et al (2005) Dietary habits and stomach cancer risk in the JACC Study. J Epidemiol 15(Suppl 2):S98–S108. doi:10.2188/jea.15.S98

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Botelho F, Lunet N, Barros H (2006) Coffee and gastric cancer: systematic review and meta-analysis. Cad Saude Publica 22:889–900. doi:10.1590/S0102-311X2006000500002

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. La Vecchia C, Tavani A (2007) Coffee and cancer risk: an update. Eur J Cancer Prev 16:385–389. doi:10.1097/01.cej.0000243853.12728.76

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Munoz N, Plummer M, Vivas J et al (2001) A case–control study of gastric cancer in Venezuela. Int J Cancer 93:417–423. doi:10.1002/ijc.1333

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. De Stefani E, Correa P, Boffetta P, Deneo-Pellegrini H, Ronco AL, Mendilaharsu M (2004) Dietary patterns and risk of gastric cancer: a case–control study in Uruguay. Gastric Cancer 7:211–220. doi:10.1007/s10120-004-0295-2

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. van Loon AJ, Goldbohm RA, van den Brandt PA (1998) Socioeconomic status and stomach cancer incidence in men: results from The Netherlands cohort study. J Epidemiol Community Health 52:166–171. doi:10.1136/jech.52.3.166

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Galanis DJ, Kolonel LN, Lee J, Nomura A (1998) Intakes of selected foods and beverages and the incidence of gastric cancer among the Japanese residents of Hawaii: a prospective study. Int J Epidemiol 27:173–180. doi:10.1093/ije/27.2.173

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Larsson SC, Giovannucci E, Wolk A (2006) Coffee consumption and stomach cancer risk in a cohort of Swedish women. Int J Cancer 119:2186–2189. doi:10.1002/ijc.22105

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Viani R (1993) The composition of coffee. In: Garattini S (ed) Caffeine, coffee and health. Raven Press, LTD, New York

    Google Scholar 

  10. IARC Working Group (1991) IARC monographs on the evaluation of carcinogenic risks to humans, vol 51: coffee, tea, maté, methylxanthines and methylglyoxal. IARC, Lyon (France)

    Google Scholar 

  11. Rao DN, Ganesh B, Dinshaw KA, Mohandas KM (2002) A case–control study of stomach cancer in Mumbai, India. Int J Cancer 99:727–731. doi:10.1002/ijc.10339

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Hansson LE, Nyren O, Bergstrom R et al (1993) Diet and risk of gastric cancer. A population-based case–control study in Sweden. Int J Cancer 55:181–189. doi:10.1002/ijc.2910550203

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Chow WH, Swanson CA, Lissowska J et al (1999) Risk of stomach cancer in relation to consumption of cigarettes, alcohol, tea and coffee in Warsaw, Poland. Int J Cancer 81:871–876. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1097-0215(19990611)81:6<871::AID-IJC6>3.0.CO;2-#

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Zheng W, Doyle TJ, Kushi LH, Sellers TA, Hong CP, Folsom AR (1996) Tea consumption and cancer incidence in a prospective cohort study of postmenopausal women. Am J Epidemiol 144:175–182

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Kinlen LJ, Willows AN, Goldblatt P, Yudkin J (1988) Tea consumption and cancer. Br J Cancer 58:397–401

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Goldbohm RA, Hertog MG, Brants HA, van Poppel G, van den Brandt PA (1996) Consumption of black tea and cancer risk: a prospective cohort study. J Natl Cancer Inst 88:93–100. doi:10.1093/jnci/88.2.93

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Heilbrun LK, Nomura A, Stemmermann GN (1986) Black tea consumption and cancer risk: a prospective study. Br J Cancer 54:677–683

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Khan MM, Goto R, Kobayashi K et al (2004) Dietary habits and cancer mortality among middle aged and older Japanese living in Hokkaido, Japan by cancer site and sex. Asian Pac J Cancer Prev 5:58–65

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Hoshiyama Y, Kawaguchi T, Miura Y et al (2005) Green tea and stomach cancer–a short review of prospective studies. J Epidemiol 15(Suppl 2):S109–S112. doi:10.2188/jea.15.S109

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Myung SK, Bae WK, Oh SM et al (2009) Green tea consumption and risk of stomach cancer: a meta-analysis of epidemiologic studies. Int J Cancer 124:670–677. doi:10.1002/ijc.23880

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. La Vecchia C, Ferraroni M, Negri E et al (1989) Coffee consumption and digestive tract cancers. Cancer Res 49:1049–1051

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Augustin LS, Gallus S, Negri E, La Vecchia C (2004) Glycemic index, glycemic load and risk of gastric cancer. Ann Oncol 15:581–584. doi:10.1093/annonc/mdh130

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Pelucchi C, Tramacere I, Bertuccio P, Tavani A, Negri E, La Vecchia C (2009) Dietary intake of selected micronutrients and gastric cancer risk: an Italian case–control study. Ann Oncol 20:160–165. doi:10.1093/annonc/mdn536

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Lucenteforte E, Scita V, Bosetti C, Bertuccio P, Negri E, La Vecchia C (2008) Food groups and alcoholic beverages and the risk of stomach cancer: a case–control study in Italy. Nutr Cancer 60:577–584. doi:10.1080/01635580802054512

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  25. D’Avanzo B, La Vecchia C, Katsouyanni K, Negri E, Trichopoulos D (1996) Reliability of information on cigarette smoking and beverage consumption provided by hospital controls. Epidemiology 7:312–315

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  26. Ferraroni M, Tavani A, Decarli A et al (2004) Reproducibility and validity of coffee and tea consumption in Italy. Eur J Clin Nutr 58:674–680. doi:10.1038/sj.ejcn.1601864

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Hirose M, Takesada Y, Tanaka H, Tamano S, Kato T, Shirai T (1998) Carcinogenicity of antioxidants BHA, caffeic acid, sesamol, 4-methoxyphenol and catechol at low doses, either alone or in combination, and modulation of their effects in a rat medium-term multi-organ carcinogenesis model. Carcinogenesis 19:207–212. doi:10.1093/carcin/19.1.207

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. IARC Working Group. (1994) IARC monographs on the evaluation of carcinogenic risks to humans, vol 61: schistosomes, liver flukes and Helicobacter pylori. IARC, Lyon (France), p 177

    Google Scholar 

  29. Brenner H, Arndt V, Stegmaier C, Ziegler H, Rothenbacher D (2004) Is Helicobacter pylori infection a necessary condition for noncardia gastric cancer? Am J Epidemiol 159:252–258. doi:10.1093/aje/kwh039

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  30. Brenner H, Rothenbacher D, Bode G, Adler G (1997) Relation of smoking and alcohol and coffee consumption to active Helicobacter pylori infection: cross sectional study. BMJ 315:1489–1492

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  31. Inoue M, Tajima K, Hirose K et al (1998) Tea and coffee consumption and the risk of digestive tract cancers: data from a comparative case–referent study in Japan. Cancer Causes Control 9:209–216. doi:10.1023/A:1008890529261

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  32. Malaty HM (2007) Epidemiology of Helicobacter pylori infection. Best Pract Res Clin Gastroenterol 21:205–214. doi:10.1016/j.bpg.2006.10.005

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  33. Russo A, Eboli M, Pizzetti P et al (1999) Determinants of Helicobacter pylori seroprevalence among Italian blood donors. Eur J Gastroenterol Hepatol 11:867–873

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  34. Shibata A, Parsonnet J (2006) Stomach cancer. In: SDFJ (ed) Cancer epidemiology and prevention, 3rd edn. Oxford University Press, New York, pp 707–720

    Google Scholar 

  35. La Vecchia C, Franceschi S (2000) Nutrition and gastric cancer with a focus on Europe. Eur J Cancer Prev 9:291–295. doi:10.1097/00008469-200010000-00001

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  36. La Vecchia C, Negri E, Decarli A, D’Avanzo B, Franceschi S (1987) A case–control study of diet and gastric cancer in northern Italy. Int J Cancer 40:484–489. doi:10.1002/ijc.2910400409

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

Authors thank Mrs. I. Garimoldi for editorial assistance.

Financial support

This work was supported by the Italian Association for Cancer Research (AIRC), Milan, Italy and the Italian League against Cancer, Italy. Paola Bertuccio was supported by a fellowship from the Italian Foundation for Cancer Research (FIRC). The work of this paper was undertaken while Carlo La Vecchia was a Senior Fellow at the IARC.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche “Mario Negri”, Via Giuseppe La Masa 19, 20156, Milan, Italy

    Silvano Gallus, Irene Tramacere, Alessandra Tavani, Cristina Bosetti, Paola Bertuccio, Eva Negri & Carlo La Vecchia

  2. Istituto di Statistica Medica e Biometria “G.A. Maccacaro”, Università degli Studi di Milano, 20133, Milan, Italy

    Carlo La Vecchia

Authors
  1. Silvano Gallus
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Irene Tramacere
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Alessandra Tavani
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Cristina Bosetti
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Paola Bertuccio
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Eva Negri
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Carlo La Vecchia
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Silvano Gallus.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Gallus, S., Tramacere, I., Tavani, A. et al. Coffee, black tea and risk of gastric cancer. Cancer Causes Control 20, 1303–1308 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-009-9350-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-009-9350-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation