Drinking for protection? Epidemiological and experimental evidence on the beneficial effects of coffee or major coffee compounds against gastrointestinal and liver carcinogenesis

Abstract

Recent meta-analysis indicate that coffee consumption may reduce the risk for digestive tract cancers (oral, esophageal, gastric and colorectal) and, especially, liver cancer. Coffee bean-derived beverages, such as the widely-consumed espresso and "common" filtered brews, are commodities of remarkable historical, cultural and economic importance globally. These drinks display rich and variable chemical composition, depending on many factors that vary from "seeding to serving". The alkaloids caffeine and trigonelline, and the polyphenol chlorogenic acid seem to be some of the most important bioactive organic compounds of these beverages, displaying high levels in both espresso and common brews and/or increased bioavailability after consumption. Thus, we proposed a comprehensive literature overview of current knowledge on the effects of coffee beverages and their highly bioavailable compounds, describing: 1) recent epidemiological and experimental findings highlighting the beneficial effects against gastrointestinal and liver carcinogenesis; and 2) the main molecular mechanisms in these in vitro and in vivo bioassays. Findings predominantly address protective effects of coffee and its most common and bioavailable compounds individually against gastrointestinal and liver cancer development. Our review underscores the complex effects of coffee on carcinogenesis, considering that beneficial effects are not limited to the whole beverage or selected compounds. Thus, this review should provide new insights of clinical and translational significance for further mechanistic investigations.

Anti-Cancer Effects of Green Tea Epigallocatchin-3-Gallate and Coffee Chlorogenic Acid

“…Similarly, a comprehensive review of the beneficial effects of coffee and its components on gastrointestinal and liver carcinogenesis summarized observational epidemiological studies: four studies on oropharyngeal cancer, four on esophagus cancer, four on stomach cancer, four on CRC, and seven HCC [ 11 ]. Comparing the highest and lowest consumptions, all study results showed 31–37% risk reduction in oropharyngeal cancer, no risk reduction in esophagus cancer, no risk reduction in CRC and 34–43% risk reduction in HCC, although some subgroup analyses gave different results.…”

“…More recently, Romualdo et al [ 11 ] discussed these issues on the basis of animal studies of the effects of coffee and CGA on oral and esophagus cancers (four studies), colon cancer (nine studies) and HCC (four studies). For example, the included data showed that two of four studies of coffee and four of five studies of CGA demonstrated beneficial effects on colon cancer.…”

“…However, cell-based and animal studies have shown that EGCG as well as CGA exert anti-cancer effects by themselves as shown below. Therefore, for the safe of clarity, the current review focuses on EGCG and CGA but excludes any discussion on caffeine, which has already been comprehensively reviewed [ 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 ].…”

Absorption, Pharmacokinetics, and Urinary Excretion of Pyridines After Consumption of Coffee and Cocoa‐Based Products Containing Coffee in a Repeated Dose, Crossover Human Intervention Study

“…[3][4][5][6][7][8] Indeed, coffee is a complex mixture of dozens of potentially bioactive compounds, namely vitamins, alkaloids, phenolic compounds, diterpenoids, and melanoidins. [2,8,9] Among the most important and largely investigated coffee alkaloids, besides caffeine, N-methyl nicotinic acid, namely trigonelline, is a pyridine commonly recognized as the second most abundant coffee alkaloid, [2,8] synthesized in planta from nicotinic acid and/or nicotinamide. [10] The key reaction of trigonelline biosynthesis pathway is methylation of the pyridine skeleton, catalyzed by a trigonelline synthase, namely nicotinic acid Nmethyltransferase.…”

Untargeted HILIC-MS-Based Metabolomics Approach to Evaluate Coffee Roasting Process: Contributing to an Integrated Metabolomics Multiplatform

“…class of bioactive compounds called melanoidins, which are Maillard reaction products [3]. Hence, there are many works in the literature focused on the study of these bioactive coffee compounds [2].…”