Drinking coffee regularly might protect smokers from bladder cancer, a new study suggests, finding that bladder cancer was about half as likely to occur in smokers who regularly drank coffee as in smokers who did not. Experts not connected with the research had mixed reactions to the findings, however, ranging from the view that they highlight the often-unexpected protective benefits of substances found in food to the opinion that the study's methodology was flawed. All agreed, however, that the best way to reduce the chance of getting bladder cancer is to stop smoking. In the study, smokers who drank coffee still had triple the chance of developing the disease as nonsmokers who drank coffee. But smokers who didn't drink coffee were seven times as likely to get the disease as nonsmokers who did not drink it.
Smoking is recognized as a leading cause of bladder cancer.
Experts estimate that about 50 percent of these cancers in men and 30 percent in women are due to smoking. Cigarette use increases the risk for bladder cancer by two to five times and, when smokers quit, their risk declines in two to four years, according to the U.S. National Cancer Institute. The Spanish study involved 497 people with bladder cancer, who were compared with 1,100 people without the disease. They were all asked about their smoking and coffee-drinking habits. Those who drank less than two cups of coffee a week were classified as non-coffee drinkers.