Study: Coffee, Exercise May Help Prevent Skin Cancer

A recent published study has revealed that oral ingestion of caffeine and exercise may aid in the prevention of skin cancer. The study was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS).

The research was carried out at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. It used a special race of hairless (SKH-1) mice to test the effect of caffeine and exercise on the incidence of skin cancer, measured as the induction of cellular apoptosis.

Four groups of mice were set to test this hypothesis. One set (control) did not receive any treatment (no caffeine, no exercise), a second group drank water with caffeine and made no exercise, a third group which did not receive caffeine but exercised, and a fourth group that both drank caffeine and exercised. Caffeine was dissolved in water (equivalent to cups of coffee a day for humans) and exercise was made on a turning wheel.

The four groups were subjected to UV radiation. Hairless mouse's skin is very sensitive to UV radiation since it has no protection at all. After, UV radiation exposure, researchers looked for cell death events and markers, known as apoptosis, as evidence of skin cancer induction and development.

The results showed that the combination of the two treatments (caffeine and exercise) seem to kill precancerous cells. The low dose caffeine group (1.1 mg/ml) seems to be more effective than the high dose caffeine drinkers. In addition to the skin cancer apoptosis effect, the study also showed an effect on the weight of the parametrial fat pads and the dermal fat layer. Both fat measures decreased by the combined effect of caffeine and exercise.

The plasma concentration of caffeine in the mice ingesting caffeine (0.1-0.4 mg/ml drinking water) is similar to that in the plasma of most coffee drinkers (one to four cups per day). The study seem to indicate a synergistic (greater than additive) stimulatory effect of combined exercise and oral administration of a low dose of caffeine treatments.