In recent years, there have been a couple of major epidemiological studies that show how, at the very least, moderate coffee consumption is not harmful to most of us, and how a few cups a day may even be beneficial.
These massive observational studies have found possible correlations between coffee and improved health. However, these reports did not find the cause nor explain exactly how the coffee could be good for our health.
Caffeine is the most well-known compound in coffee but there are over a thousand other compounds in the humble cup of joe that could be helping us too. This has led a variety of scientists around the globe to zoom in on particular compounds in coffee. They want to try to understand what effects each compound (individually) could be having on us.
Among these focused studies is research that was recently presented at the European Association of Urology congress in Barcelona. The team honed in on two specific compounds in coffee that other scientists previously discovered may inhibit the growth of prostate cancer. The new study was published in the journal The Prostate.
Initially, the researchers had focused on six specific prospective anti-cancer compounds found in coffee. After testing the compounds on prostate cancer cells, two particular compounds stood out for inhibiting cell proliferation in low concentrations: kahweol acetate and cafestol.
They then took mice that had been implanted with prostate cancer cells. Alongside an untreated control group, some animals were treated with either kahweol acetate or cafestol, while others were administered a combination of the two.
Hiroaki Iwamoto, the first author of the new research, explains:
“We found that kahweol acetate and cafestol inhibited the growth of the cancer cells in mice, but the combination seemed to work synergistically, leading to a significantly slower tumor growth than in untreated mice. After 11 days, the untreated tumors had grown by around 3 and a half times the original volume (342%), whereas the tumors in the mice treated with both compounds had grown by around just over one and a half (167%) times the original size.”
Even though they have only tested on animal models, the results were positive. What their research found may explain why several observational studies in humans found male coffee drinkers often suffer from lower rates of prostate cancer.
A person would have to drink three cups of Turkish coffee or six cups of Mocha coffee to consume the concentrations of these two particular compounds used in the animal study. The extraction techniques matter greatly. Filtering coffee eliminates these two beneficial compounds from the final product.
They do make it a point to mention that this doesn’t mean a person suffering from prostate cancer should immediately start drinking multiple cups of coffee every day as an anti-cancer measure. They haven’t even tested this on humans yet. For now, the most promising takeaway from the research is there could be a new prostate cancer treatment pathway for scientists to explore.
Iwamoto says:
“Coffee can have both positive and negative effects (for example it can increase hypertension), so we need to find out more about the mechanisms behind these findings before we can think about clinical applications. However, if we can confirm these results, we may have candidates to treat drug-resistant prostate cancer.”
