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Avoiding coffee, tea unlikely to reduce risk for Barrett's esophagus
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No association was found between risk for Barrett’s esophagus and consumption of coffee or tea in a recent study.
“Clinical belief is that caffeine from coffee and non-coffee beverages causes or aggravates heartburn by decreasing lower esophageal sphincter pressure,” Aaron P. Thrift, MD, from the Dan L. Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center, Baylor College of Medicine, told Healio Gastroenterology. “However, results from epidemiological studies of coffee and gastroesophageal reflux disease are mixed and no studies have examined the association with Barrett’s esophagus.”
Aaron P. Thrift
Thrift and colleague performed a cross-sectional study of U.S. veterans who underwent esophagogastroduodenoscopy with biopsy, which identified 310 BE cases and 1,728 controls. Patients with prior gastroesophageal surgery or cancer, history of lung, colon or breast cancer, contraindication for biopsy, major liver disease, cognitive impairment or endoscopically suspected BE without histologic evidence were excluded. Before undergoing endoscopy, all patients completed a coffee and tea consumption survey.
Patients with BE were more likely to be older, male and white, and have abdominal obesity and GERD symptoms compared with controls. Moreover, patients with BE were more likely than controls to drink coffee (77% vs. 70%) and tea (58% vs. 51%).
Univariate analysis showed significant associations between BE risk and consumption of coffee (OR = 1.41; 95% CI, 1.06-1.87) or tea (OR = 1.34; 95% CI, 1.05-1.71). However, multivariate analysis — which adjusted for age, sex, race, waist-to-hip ratio, duration of GERD symptoms, smoking status, alcohol use, Helicobacter pylori status, aspirin, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug or acid suppressant use, and recruitment source — showed no significant association between BE risk and consumption of coffee (adjusted OR = 1.04; 95% CI, 0.76-1.42) or tea (adjusted OR = 1.11; 95% CI, 0.85-1.44).
“While we found that patients with Barrett’s esophagus consumed more coffee (especially strong coffee and at hot or extremely hot temperature) on average than population-based controls, there was no association with coffee after adjusting for sex and race of the patients,” Thrift said. “Based on the findings of our study and in light of prior conflicting results for gastroesophageal reflux disease, there are not enough data to support avoidance of caffeine to reduce the risk of developing gastroesophageal reflux disease or Barrett’s esophagus.”
Further research is needed to determine whether coffee or tea consumption affects the risk of progression from BE to esophageal adenocarcinoma, the researchers added. – by Adam Leitenberger
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
Editor's Note: This article was updated on Jan. 20 to reflect additional information.
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