In what could be exciting health news for those who love a morning brew, a team of clinician-scientists has shown that drinking coffee or tea regularly may reduce the risk of a common type of skin cancers that develop in the upper layers of the skin, collectively referred to as non-melanoma skin cancers.

According to a 2019 report by the Singapore Cancer Registry, non-melanoma skin cancers, which include basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas, were the sixth and seventh most common cancers among men and women, respectively. These cancers were more commonly reported among Chinese who have a lighter skin tone compared with Malays and Indians.

With several preclinical studies indicating that caffeine may not only kill ultra violet-light-damaged skin cells but also prevent UV-induced skin cancers, Dr Oh Choon Chiat and his team set out to examine whether drinking coffee, tea and caffeinated beverages affected the risk of non-melanoma skin cancers among Chinese Singaporeans.

“Because of high global consumption of both of these caffeinated drinks, there is much interest in their effects on human health and diseases, including skin diseases with a generally poor prognosis such as melanoma,” explained Oh, a senior consultant at the Singapore General Hospital.

Publishing in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, Oh and his team used data from the “Singapore Chinese Health Study”, a prospective cohort of 63,257 individuals aged 45 to 74 years who were recruited between 1993 and 1998.

About 70 per cent of the participants drank coffee every day, whereas black tea and green tea were consumed by 11 per cent and 12 per cent of the participants, respectively. Soda was less frequently consumed, with just 4.3 per cent of participants who reported drinking soda three or more times a week.

A total of 61,321 participants were followed up for a mean of 18.3 years, at the end of which coffee and black tea drinkers showed a significantly reduced risk of developing non-melanoma skin cancers compared with the other participants.

“Three or more cups of coffee a day had the best protective effect against basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma. Daily drinkers of black tea also had a reduced risk of non-melanoma cancer compared to non-drinkers,” said Oh.

Lest cancer patients start contemplating if they could replace their medications with pots of coffee and tea, Oh is quick to caution that, caffeinated drinks are not a treatment for the condition. Rather, regular drinking of such beverages provides a protective effect against these common cancers.

He added that more studies need to be done to determine which component in coffee and tea is responsible for the protective effect as it may not necessarily be the caffeine.

Adapted by Sruthi Jagannathan from Drinking coffee and black tea regularly may help prevent some skin cancers.