"We have found what we believe to be the mechanism by which caffeine is associated with decreased skin cancer,"said lead researcher Dr. Paul Nghiem, an associate professor of dermatology at the University of Washington in Seattle.
For the study, Nghiem's team looked at caffeine's effect on human skin cells in a laboratory that had been exposed to ultraviolet radiation.They found that in cells damaged by UV rays, caffeine interrupted a protein called ATR-Chk1, causing the damaged cells to self-destruct.

Nghiem said,
"Caffeine has no effect on undamaged cells,Caffeine has no effect on undamaged cells,This is a biological mechanism that explains what we have been seeing for many years from the oral intake of caffeine."
But, Nghiem added, people shouldn't increase the amount of coffee or tea they drink to prevent skin cancer."You are talking a lot of cups for a lot of years for a relatively small effect," he said."But if you like it, it's another reason to drink it."

It's possible that topical caffeine preparations might one day be used to help prevent skin cancer, Nghiem said."Caffeine is both a sunscreen and it deletes damaged cells," he said."It may well make sense to put it into a sunscreen preparation."

"This study tells me that caffeine may be a useful ingredient topically to remove ultraviolet-genetically damaged cells from reproducing,"Dr. Robin Ashinoff said."This may help prevent the development of skin cancer."

"It is interesting that caffeine, which is thought to have a negative connotation, has already been shown to be associated with lower incidences of non-melanoma skin cancers in several epidemiological studies," she added.

"And, the study doesn't discuss how much caffeine would be needed for any real benefit," Dr. Albert Lefkovits said."For instance, many people drink large amounts of caffeine on a daily basis and still get skin cancer. Protecting yourself from the sun is currently the only proven way to prevent skin cancer."

2 评论

  1. Daisy Soap Girl // April 23, 2009 at 8:33 AM  

    Wow! And I am making my Coffee & Grits soap to take the scent of onions from the skin. Now a new marketing tip.

  2. ADuu // April 24, 2009 at 3:01 AM  

    Hi,Dear Daisy Soap Girl,thanks for your commented.