Eh…. No Coffee doesn’t actually cause cancer.
I’m surprised to see a ruling of this nature as the evidence does not support the measures proposed and indeed the measure itself may have negative public health consequences overall.
The ruling focusses on a chemical called acrylamide which is commonly found in foodstuffs that are heated to high temperatures, for example, roast vegetables, and generated as part of the coffee bean roasting process that makes the raw ingredient of all forms of coffee. At very high concentrations over prolonged periods pure acrylamide has been found to have a small effect in increasing tumours in some laboratory animals and is therefore classified as a “possible carcinogen”. We also know that people who worked with neat acrylamide in chemical processes over years showed small increases in cancer rates. However, this does not at all mean that the amounts found in every day food and drink exposure should give any cause for concern whatsoever. There have been many studies of the links between coffee consumption and cancer risk. Taking all the information together indicates that there is no reason to suspect that coffee can increase the risks of cancer and indeed the weight of evidence largely suggest a small reduction in cancer risks of some cancers like bowel with regular moderate coffee consumption.
Legal rulings of this nature are concerning for a number of reasons.
The general public are inundated with misleading claims about what is and isn’t good for our health leading to overt confusion. Some people can develop inappropriate worries about the things that might impact their health or conversely it can undermine public faith in proven measure they can readily take to stack the odds of positive health in their favour. For example we know that there are 12 simple measures proven to reduce the risk of developing cancer over our lifetime
(see https://www.cancer.ie/reduce-your-risk/healthy-lifestyle/europeancode.
Following these steps; like not smoking, being careful in the sun, minding our weight, exercising and moderating alcohol consumption are proven to greatly reduce the risks of a cancer diagnosis in our lifetime.
A ruling like this, which ignores the weight of evidence that coffee overall doesn’t cause cancer will do nothing to reduce the chances of people getting cancer and there is a concern that conversely it might undermine public health work to help people appreciate the risks of other proven causes of cancer.
There is an old adage that “the dose maketh the poison”.
Many substances in our environment may show an ability to harm health, in pure form at very high concentrations over long periods but have no or even beneficial effects, at lower doses. For example, water is vital for life and we all drink about 1–2 litres per day. Drinking 5l or more of water in a single sitting can make us very ill and even risk death. No one would propose a health warning on water. Serious health warnings must be reserved for measures proven to be detrimental to human health at amounts we might expect to be exposed to if people are to make the best use of such warnings. To illustrate what I mean, we know that alcohol at amounts that many in our community consume can cause a number of cancers resulting in nearly 10 cancer deaths per week in Ireland and hence a label to inform us of this risk is appropriate.
