coffee prostate cancer : High coffee intake tied to lower prostate cancer risk

Men who consumed coffee regularly had a reduced risk of lethal or advanced prostate cancer, a study of health professionals found. Adeel Halim/Reuters

Men who drink six cups of coffee a day showed a lower risk of developing a deadly type of prostate cancer compared with nondrinkers, a large U.S. study suggests.

The study by researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health compared risk of aggressive prostate cancer among 47,911 U.S. men in the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study. Participants reported their coffee consumption every four years from 1986 to 2008.

During the study period, 5,035 cases of prostate cancer were reported, including 642 fatal or metastatic cases, Lorelei Mucci, an associate professor of epidemiology at Harvard and her co-authors reported in Tuesday's online issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.