Coffee May Help Oral Health

Coffee may reduce risk of oral cavity, pharynx cancers.
The Salt Lake Tribune (6/23) reports that "coffee may protect drinkers from cancers of the oral cavity and pharynx," according to a study published online by the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention.
The CNN (6/22, Henry) "Paging Dr. Gupta" blog reported that investigators "looked at nine existing studies and analyzed how much coffee was consumed by more than 5,000 cancer patients and about 9,000 healthy people." The investigators "found that regular coffee drinkers -- those who drank more than four cups of coffee a day -- had a 39 percent decreased risk of two types of head and neck cancer: oral cavity and pharynx cancers." However, "coffee did not decrease the risk of a third type of oral cancer -- laryngeal cancer."