Endometrial (uterine or womb) cancer is the fourth commonest cancer among UK women, accounting for 8,475 new cases a year. Now research has found that drinking about four cups of coffee daily cuts the risk by a fifth.

Dietary questionnaires completed during the European Prospective Investigation Into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) Study associated nine foods and nutrients with endometrial cancer. The researchers then assessed the risk associated with these nine foods using data collected during another two studies – the Nurses’ Health Study (NHS) and NHSII.

In EPIC, women who drank about three cups of coffee per day (median 750g/day) were 19 per cent less likely to develop endometrial cancer than those drinking less than one cup daily (median 9g/day). In NHS/NHSII, the risk of endometrial cancer was 18 per cent lower in those drinking about four cups of coffee per day (median 1,067g/day) than in non-drinkers.

NHS/NHSII did not confirm any association with the other eight dietary factors linked to endometrial cancer in EPIC (total and monounsaturated fat, carbohydrates, phos-phorus, butter, yogurt, cheese and potatoes). The authors remark that further studies need to confirm the reduced risk among coffee drinkers and to identify the underlying mechanisms.

“Coffee intake is worth investigating further to see if coffee can be used for the prevention of endometrial cancer,” says study author Melissa Merritt, research fellow in cancer epidemiology at Imperial College London.

“However, before clinical recommendations can be made, further studies are needed to evaluate this question … and to try to isolate the components of coffee that may be responsible for any influence on endometrial cancer.” (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2015; 24:466-71)