A cup of char can work like a charm

Do you feel as though you can’t face the day without a cup of coffee in your hand? If so then you can rest easy — at least as far as cancer is concerned.

Research shows that moderate consumption of coffee is actually good for you in terms of cancer and can reduce your risk of prostate, liver, womb cancer and some cancers of the throat and mouth.

This is despite the fact that the coffee beans are roasted — a process that produces moderate levels of acrylamides.

Baking, grilling or roasting foods at high temperatures produce these toxic compounds, linked to an increased risk of cancers.

But the evidence of recent studies implies that this is substantially outweighed by the benefits from all the cancer-protective phytochemicals in coffee.

As for tea, the great British cuppa is not just a national treasure, it can also help to lower your risk of cancer.

Both green tea and the black stuff we’ve been drinking in the uK for hundreds of years contain high quantities of numerous polyphenols and it may surprise you to learn they both come from the same plant. When the leaves of the Camellia

sinensis plant are dried, they are fermented and oxidised to form the black tea we are familiar with. Green tea is unfermented and merely steamed.

TeA polyphenols are important because they have been shown to block an enzyme which tells cancer cells to proliferate faster and bypass a process called apoptosis, which is a pre-programmed self-destruct mechanism by which our body gets harmful cells to destroy themselves.

They also have excellent antiinflammatory properties.

Despite these positive effects on biological pathways, not all human studies have linked a daily cuppa or two with a lower risk of cancer.

In fact, the large Japanese ohsaki National Health Insurance Cohort Study reported that tea consumption was not associated with lower cancer levels, and a large Cochrane review concluded that there was insufficient evidence for a benefit or risk, although quality of life seems to be better in tea drinkers.

However, I am convinced of the anti-cancer benefits of tea drinking, partly from studying other data and partly because of a big research project that I was involved in.

our research team at the Primrose Research unit at Bedford Hospital undertook a 155,000-person analysis, which performed the world’s largest specific analysis of tea, following participants for 12 years. We were able to prove that drinking two to three cups of tea a day reduced the prostate cancer risk.

Interestingly, there wasn’t a benefit for those tea drinkers who added sugar to their cups, however.

Population studies have shown that people who drink tea regularly have lower risks of arthritis as well as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, which is thought to be due to a reduction in the build-up of harmful amyloid in brain tissue.

The protection from heart disease and stroke by green tea (although not black tea) is thought to come from its ability to lower LDL (bad) cholesterol. Finally, regular consumption of tea has even been shown to improve bone health and reduce the risk of developing arthritis, as well as improving exercise performance.

So this is why, as a doctor, I wholeheartedly prescribe you to put the kettle on and treat yourself to a cup of your favourite brew! EXTRACTED BY JUDITH KEELING from How To Live by Professor Robert Thomas, published by Short Books at £14.99. © 2020 Professor Robert Thomas. Order a copy for £12.74 at mailshop. co.uk/books or call 020 3308 9193. Free uK delivery on orders over £15. Promotional price valid until October 10, 2020.