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Associations between tea and coffee beverage consumption and the risk of lung cancer in the Singaporean Chinese population

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Abstract

Background

Tea and coffee are widely consumed beverages. Tea flavonoids have been shown to inhibit lung tumorigenesis using in vitro and in vivo models. Conversely, coffee contains complex mixtures of biochemically active compounds, some of which may have genotoxic and mutagenic properties. However, previous epidemiologic studies have shown inconsistent results on tea and coffee in relation to lung cancer risk.

Methods

The Singapore Chinese Health Study is a population-based prospective cohort of 63,257 Singaporean Chinese men and women, with an average of 17.7 years of follow-up. Information on tea and coffee consumption and other lifestyle factors was collected through in-person interviews at baseline. Multivariable Cox regression models were used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the associations with adjustment for potential confounders.

Results

There were 1486 incident lung cancer cases. Compared to non-daily coffee drinkers, HRs (95% CIs) of lung cancer risk for those consuming one, two, and three or more cups of coffee per day were 1.18 (1.02–1.36), 1.21 (1.05–1.40), and 1.32 (1.08–1.62) respectively (P for trend = 0.0034). The highest category of black tea consumption (at least 2 cups per day) was inversely associated with risk of lung cancer [HR (95% CI) = 0.73 (0.53–0.99)], particularly among men [HR (95% CI) = 0.67 (0.47–0.95)], compared to less-than-weekly black tea drinkers, although the interaction by sex was not statistically significant.

Conclusions

Coffee beverage consumption was associated with higher risk of developing lung cancer. On the other hand, black tea intake was associated with lower risk of lung cancer among men in our cohort, and further studies are needed to confirm this association.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Prof. Mimi C. Yu and Prof. Lee Hin Peng for initiating the Singapore Chinese Health Study and Ms. Siew-Hong Low for supervising the field work of the Singapore Chinese Health Study. We would also like to thank the National Registry of Diseases Office for their assistance in the identification of cancer cases.

Funding

The Singapore Chinese Health Study was supported by R01 CA144034, and UM1 CA182876. W–P Koh is supported by the National Medical Research Council, Singapore (NMRC/CSA/0055/2013).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore and National University Health System, 12 Science Drive 2, Singapore, 117549, Singapore

    Wei Jie Seow & Woon-Puay Koh

  2. Department of Medicine, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore and National University Health System, Singapore, Singapore

    Wei Jie Seow

  3. Health Services and Systems Research, Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore, Singapore

    Woon-Puay Koh & Aizhen Jin

  4. Division of Cancer Control and Population Science, UPMC Hillman Cancer Center, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburg, PA, USA

    Jian-Min Yuan

  5. Department of Epidemiology, Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Renwei Wang & Jian-Min Yuan

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  1. Wei Jie Seow
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Correspondence to Wei Jie Seow.

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Seow, W.J., Koh, WP., Jin, A. et al. Associations between tea and coffee beverage consumption and the risk of lung cancer in the Singaporean Chinese population. Eur J Nutr 59, 3083–3091 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00394-019-02146-7

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