One of the reasons it's so difficult to study the relationship between diet and cancer

is because many dietary behaviors are associated with non-dietary behaviors.

For example, the reason we used to think coffee-drinking caused cancer

was because people who drink coffee are more likely to have a cigarette in the other hand.

When you factor that out though, for example, by looking at just non-smokers who do or don't drink coffee,

we find that if anything, coffee consumption may reduce the total cancer incidence;

not by much, but overall, according to the latest review, an "increase in consumption of one cup of coffee per day

was associated with about a 3% reduced risk of cancers, especially bladder cancer, breast cancer,

mouth, colorectal, endometrial, esophageal, liver, leukemia, pancreatic, and prostate cancers".

Coffee beans aren't really beans.

But one is, after all, just soaking a powdered seed in some water.

So a reduction in cancer risk?...not that surprising!