Intake of coffee, decaffeinated coffee, or tea does not affect risk for pancreatic cancer: results from the European Prospective Investigation into Nutrition and Cancer Study.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Few modifiable risk factors have been implicated in the etiology of pancreatic cancer. There is little evidence for the effects of caffeinated coffee, decaffeinated coffee, or tea intake on risk of pancreatic cancer. We investigated the association of total coffee, caffeinated coffee, decaffeinated coffee, and tea consumption with risk of pancreatic cancer.

METHODS

This study was conducted within the European Prospective Investigation into Nutrition and Cancer cohort, comprising male and female participants from 10 European countries. Between 1992 and 2000, there were 477,312 participants without cancer who completed a dietary questionnaire and were followed up to determine pancreatic cancer incidence. Coffee and tea intake was calibrated with a 24-hour dietary recall. Adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) were computed using multivariable Cox regression.

RESULTS

During a mean follow-up period of 11.6 y, 865 first incidences of pancreatic cancers were reported. When divided into fourths, neither total intake of coffee (HR, 1.03; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.83-1.27; high vs low intake), decaffeinated coffee (HR, 1.12; 95% CI, 0.76-1.63; high vs low intake), nor tea were associated with risk of pancreatic cancer (HR, 1.22, 95% CI, 0.95-1.56; high vs low intake). Moderately low intake of caffeinated coffee was associated with an increased risk of pancreatic cancer (HR, 1.33; 95% CI, 1.02-1.74), compared with low intake. However, no graded dose response was observed, and the association attenuated after restriction to histologically confirmed pancreatic cancers.

CONCLUSIONS

Based on an analysis of data from the European Prospective Investigation into Nutrition and Cancer cohort, total coffee, decaffeinated coffee, and tea consumption are not related to the risk of pancreatic cancer.