Caffeine May Fight Skin Cancer | The Healthy Beauty Project -by Todra Payne

Can Starbucks save you from skin cancer?

Caffeine May Fight Skin Cancer

Jump to: Comments | Related Posts | Read More

If you’re looking to justify that $4.00 morning cup o’ joe,  a new study conducted by Rutgers University may help. The university is reporting that caffeine may be an opponent in the fight against certain skin cancers. It’s even being questioned if caffeine should be included in sunscreens.

Previous studies showed that drinking caffeine helped fight against skin cancer. Mice were force-fed caffeinated water and baked under UV lamps to test the theory.

Rutgers chose to change the mice at the molecular level to test their theory about topically applied caffeine.

In both cases, the mice given caffeine (or the properties of caffeine) developed tumors at a slower rate than the mice not given the caffeine.

There have also been multiple human epidemiologic studies linking caffeinated beverage consumption with significant decreases in several types of cancer, not just skin cancer. But interestingly enough, no one’s sure why or how caffeine protects against the disease.

Americans, according to e-import.com, consume 400 million cups of coffee per day. And according to the National Cancer Institute, more than half of the American population drinks at least one cup each morning; while sunlight-induced skin cancer is the most prevalent cancer in the United States. There are more than 1 million new cases each year. But not all skin cancer is sunlight induced, so that could explain the disconnect.

I’ll admit these two things: I’d like coffee-scented sunscreen (I like the smell of coffee). And I feel really bad for the mice.

What are your thoughts?

Coffee photo by Stuart Miles.

We'd love to hear your thoughts!

 

If you enjoyed this article, you may enjoy some of these as well!


Find Us On

Sign up for our Newsletter

Receive your free copy of our E-Book!