Coffee and general caffeine intake may affect a woman's levels of estrogen and other sex hormones, a new study suggests - offering a potential explanation for findings that link caffeine to certain cancers.

Several studies have found connections between caffeine and breast and ovarian cancers, though the findings have not always been consistent.

For instance, different analyses of the Nurses' Health Study (NHS) - a large, long-running study of U.S. female nurses - have linked higher caffeine intake to lower risks of breast and ovarian cancers in postmenopausal women, but to a higher risk of ovarian cancer before menopause.

No one knows whether caffeine directly affects the risks of the cancers. But since estrogen and other sex hormones play a role in both diseases, it's possible that caffeine affects the risks of the cancers via hormonal influences, note investigators Dr. Joanne Kotsopoulos and colleagues at Harvard Medical School.

The team looked at the relationship between coffee and caffeine intake and hormone levels among more than 1,200 women involved in the NHS. Continue article at original source

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