Coffee drinkers have much lower risk of bowel cancer recurrence, study finds

People with bowel cancer who drink two to four cups of coffee a day are much less likely to see their disease come back, research has found.

People with the illness who consume that amount are also much less likely to die from any cause, the study shows, which suggests coffee helps those diagnosed with the UK’s second biggest cancer killer.

Experts said the findings were “promising” and speculated that, if other studies show the same effect, the 43,000 Britons a year diagnosed with bowel cancer may be encouraged to drink coffee.

A study of 1,719 bowel cancer patients in the Netherlands by Dutch and British researchers found that those who drank at least two cups of coffee had a lower risk of the disease recurring.

“Coffee also lowers inflammation and insulin levels – which have been linked to bowel cancer development and progression – and can have potentially beneficial effects on the gut microbiome.

Coffee’s emergence as a potential protector against cancer is remarkable because until 2016 the World Health Organization classed it as “possibly carcinogenic” before changing its mind because the evidence did not exist to back that up.