NCA supports WHO research on health effects of coffee

On 16 August, the National Coffee Association (NCA) told a public hearing that the weight of scientific evidence, endorsed by the World Health Organization (WHO), shows that coffee prevents certain cancers and that coffee drinkers live longer. NCA CEO and President Bill Murray spoke about the scientific evidence in support of coffee at the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) oral hearing on Proposition 65 warnings on coffee. “We’ve known about many of the benefits of coffee for some time. In fact, we’ve known about some of them for hundreds and hundreds of years,” Murray says. “We also know how popular coffee is, partly because of some these benefits. Two thirds of Americans drank at least one cup of coffee today. Altogether, we consume approximately 150 billion cups of coffee in the US every year.” Related stories: Dose of truth: California, coffee and cancer California moves to clear coffee of cancer stigma Judge rules coffee sold in California must carry cancer warnings Murray pointed to the wealth of evidence from the recent the WHO assessment of coffee, which found that coffee is associated with a reduced risk of certain cancers. The WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) analysed more than 1000 separate scientific studies and found that not only did coffee not cause cancer but it actually improved the health of those who drank it. “A recent study of more than half a million people found that those who consume six or seven cups of coffee a day were 16 per cent less likely to die from any disease over a 10-year period than those who never touch it,” Murray says. “Now that science has so comprehensively established the facts on coffee we believe it is incumbent on regulators to give citizens confidence in what they are consuming. We applaud OEHHA for recognising this and for moving so rapidly after the publication of the IARC findings.” A comment period will be open through 30 August, after which there will be decision made as to whether, under Prop 65, coffee would have to have a cancer warning label.