Tea and coffee consumption and risk of colon and rectal cancer in middle-aged Finnish men

The association between coffee and black tea consumption and the subsequent risk of colon and rectal cancer was investigated within a Finnish clinical trial cohort. One hundred eleven cases of colon cancer and 83 cases of rectal cancer were diagnosed over a median of 8.0 years of follow-up. Proportional hazards regression models were used to derive adjusted relative risks (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for the association between coffee and tea consumption and cancer incidence. After controlling for confounders, coffee was not significantly associated with colon or rectal cancer. A positive association was seen for increased consumption of tea drinking and colon cancer. Compared with persons who did not drink tea those who consumed < 1 cup/day had an RR of 1.40 (95% CI = 0.84-2.33) and those who consumed greater than or equal to 1 cup/day had an RR of 2. 09 (95% CI = 1.34-3.26 p for trend = 0.001). In contrast, tea consumption had little effect on rectal cancer incidence. This study does not support the hypothesis that coffee and tea prefect against colorectal cancer risk. However, given the strength of the tea-colon cancer association and the significant gradient of risk we observed across level of intake, further epidemiologic research of this relationship in other populations seems warranted.