Caffeine may reduce ovarian cancer risk

As long as we're cataloging how caffeine might affect pregnant women, allow us to meanwhile plant a seed in all you non-pregnant women: apparently caffeine may reduce the risk of ovarian cancer. Oh sure, it's premature to tell and you wouldn't want to go bathing in caffeine or anything, but still:

Tworoger's team looked at the association between smoking and ovarian cancer risk among 110,454 of the women, and the association between alcohol and caffeine and ovarian cancer risk among 80,253 women, all followed from 1976 to 2004. For the smoking analysis, the researchers found 737 confirmed cases of epithelial ovarian cancer, the most common type of ovarian cancer. For the diet analysis, they found 507 women with epithelial ovarian cancer.

No association was apparent for drinking alcohol and ovarian cancer, or for smoking, with one exception. "It [smoking] does appear to increase the incidence of a rare type, mucinous ovarian tumors," she said, a subtype of epithelial ovarian cancer.

However, the researchers found an "inverse trend" for total caffeine intake and caffeinated coffee consumption and ovarian cancer, but the individual risk reductions didn't reach statistical significance.

The association for caffeine was strongest if the women had never used either birth control pills or hormones after menopause, Tworoger said. Why caffeine may be protective isn't certain, she said, but its consumption may lower estrogen levels, at least in postmenopausal women.

Your mileage, of course, may vary!