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Your third cup of coffee could reduce your risk of colon cancer by half


Aside from the obvious energy boosting effects of coffee, drinking a few cuppas has been linked to numerous health benefits.

Not long ago, science revealed that consuming a few cups of coffee a day could help prevent liver cirrhosis and type 2 diabetes.

Drinking more than 2.5 cups of coffee a day may reduce your risk of colon cancer by 50 per cent. Photo: Thinkstock
Drinking more than 2.5 cups of coffee a day may reduce your risk of colon cancer by 50 per cent. Photo: Thinkstock

Now, science has discovered that the addictive brown substance could reduce your risk of colon cancer by half.

Conducted by a group of researches from the University of Southern California's Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, the new study found the more you drink (whether it be decaf or regular coffee), the lower your risk of colorectal cancer.

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Dr. Gad Rennert, senior researcher and director of the Clalit National Israeli Cancer Control Center in Haifa, Israel, told CBS News, "The protective effect is not caffeine, per se, but probably a lot of other antioxidant ingredients in the coffee that are released in the roasting process."

In Israel, the researchers compared data on more than 5000 people diagnosed with colorectal cancer with data on 4,000 other people with no history of colon cancer.

It makes no difference whether the coffee is regular or decaf, researchers said. Photo: Thinkstock
It makes no difference whether the coffee is regular or decaf, researchers said. Photo: Thinkstock

They found that drinking one or two cups of coffee every day was associated with a 26 per cent lower risk of developing the disease, while those who drank more than 2.5 cups reduced their risk by 50 per cent.

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While the evidence of is strong, Dr. Rennert cautions that the results don’t actually prove coffee lowers one’s risk of colon cancer and that much more research is needed.

However, we’ve come far from the days when we use to think coffee was bad for us, says Dr. Rennert, "Today we have evidence that that's not the case, that actually coffee is good for you."

Amen Dr.