Coffee, comparative risk

In 1981, Lawson et al.,87 for example, compared a group of 210 women hospitalized for fibrocystic disease with 241 women who had breast cancer and were drawn from two ongoing studies in different countries. They matched each case to three female control patients on age, current smoking habits, country, and study. Recent coffee and tea consumption in cases and controls were compared and were shown to have a modest positive association with hot beverage consumption for both fibrocystic disease and breast cancer, but there was no dose-response relationship. The risk of fibrocystic disease associated with heavy consumption of hot beverages (7+ cups per day) vs. none was elevated but not statistically significant. 

A prospective study of 17,000 people suggested that the mean relative risk of developing type II diabetes was only 0.5 (0.35-0.72) in those individuals habitually consuming six or more cups of coffee per day compared with those consuming two or less (p = 0.0002). The results of subsequent epidemiological studies on coffee consumption have been in good agreement. 

When one compares the risk of caffeine as taken in one cup of coffee to that from the forest herbicide, 2,4-D, one finds that the margin of safety for teratogenesis or birth defects ranges from 5 to 16 (Table XIII). 

The risk of heart attack has been shown to be higher in persons consuming five to ten cups of coffee daily as compared with those drinking two to three cups daily (Hammar et al. 2003 Palmer et al. 1995 Sesso et al. 1999 Tavani et al. 2001, 2004). 

Epidemiological data suggest that dementia (AD in particular) risk is reduced in coffee Cojfea arabica L. [Rubiaceae])/caffeine (59) drinkers, compared with no or low coffee intake [186-188], although other studies do not support this conclusion since any protective effect of coffee or caffeine consumptimi against AD was not evident [189, 190]. Studies also suggest a high intake of coffee or caffeine is associated with a lower incidence of PD [2, 191], and an open-label pilot study... 

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