Coffee and gastric cancer: systematic review and meta-analysis

We systematically reviewed the literature on the association between coffee consumption and gastric cancer and performed a meta-analysis of the results. Published cohort and case-control studies were identified in PubMed and reference lists. Random effects meta-analysis was used to pool effects from 23 studies, and heterogeneity was explored by stratification and meta-regression. The odds ratio (OR) for the overall association between coffee and gastric cancer (highest vs. lowest category of exposure) was 0.97 (95%CI: 0.86-1.09), similar for cohort (OR = 1.02; 95%CI: 0.76-1.37) and case-control studies (population-based: OR = 0.90; 95%CI: 0.70-1.15; hospital-based: OR = 0.97; 95%CI: 0.83-1.13). The OR was 1.26 (95%CI: 1.02-1.57) when considering five studies conducted in the USA, 0.97 (95%CI: 0.82-1.14) for the five Japanese studies, 0.98 (95%CI: 0.81-1.17) for the six studies from Europe, and 0.64 (95%CI: 0.47-0.86) for the two studies from South America. In this meta-analysis we found no adverse effect of coffee associated with gastric cancer. Knowledge on the level of exposure to different coffee constituents may provide a deeper understanding of this reassuring result and the real role of coffee on cancer risk.