COLORECTAL CANCER
In 1991, a Working Group of the International Agency for Research on Cancer reviewed the existing data and concluded that there is some evidence of an inverse relation between coffee drinking and cancer of the large bowel in man [10]. This suggestion was later confirmed in a meta-analysis of case-control studies based on data published up to 1997 [12]. Numerous meta-analyses have been undertaken recently and their results are also optimistic. A meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies in 2009 showed no significant effect of coffee consumption on colorectal cancer risk [16], whereas a meta-analysis of case-control studies in 2010 suggested a moderately favorable effect (17% lower risk of cancer) [10]. A beneficial effect of coffee on the risk of colorectal cancer was also confirmed by a meta-analysis of cohort studies in 2011 [52]. As many as three analyses and a review of data were published in 2013. One of them, including case-control studies, stated that the risk of colorectal cancer is reduced by 15% for heavy coffee drinkers as compared to low or non-drinkers, and that the risk ofcolon cancer is reduced by 21% [23]. Tian et al., in their analysis of observational studies, detected a significant association between coffee intake and decreased risk of colorectal and colon cancer among subjects consuming ≥4 cups of coffee a day [43], while a review of epidemiological evidence by Bøhn et al., indicated that coffee may protect against colorectal cancer [6].