Whether you like your coffee black, decaf, half-caff or even instant, feel free to drink up. Researchers at the University of Southern California (USC) Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center of Keck Medicine of USC have found that coffee consumption decreases the risk of colorectal cancer.

The study examined over 5,100 men and women who had been diagnosed with colorectal cancer within the past six months, along with an additional 4,000 men and women with no history of colorectal cancer to serve as a control group. Participants reported their daily consumption of boiled (espresso), instant, decaffeinated and filtered coffee, as well as their total consumption of other liquids. A questionnaire also gathered information about many other factors that influence the risk of colorectal cancer, including family history of cancer, diet, physical activity and smoking.

"We found that drinking coffee is associated with lower risk of colorectal cancer, and the more coffee consumed, the lower the risk," said Stephen Gruber, MD, PhD, MPH, director of the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center and senior author of the study.

The data showed that even moderate coffee consumption, between one to two servings a day, was associated with a 26 percent reduction in the odds of developing colorectal cancer after adjusting for known risk factors. Moreover, the risk of developing colorectal cancer continued to decrease to up to 50 percent when participants drank more than 2.5 servings of coffee each day. The indication of decreased risk was seen across all types of coffee, both caffeinated and decaffeinated.

A healthy lifestyle is especially important for young adult and teenage survivors of cancer, and how health behavior messages related to diet, exercise, smoking, and alcohol consumption are developed and presented may impact their effectiveness in this population, according to an article in Journal of Adolescent and Young Adult Oncology (JAYAO), a multidisciplinary peer-reviewed publication from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free to download on the JAYAO website until April 30, 2016.

Gemma Pugh and coauthors from University College London, CLIC Sargent (London), and University College London Hospital, reviewed the medical literature and identified trends in the delivery and content of health behavior interventions specifically targeted to adolescent and young adult cancer survivors and characteristics shared by successful interventions. They highlight the potential benefits of including young cancer survivors in the design of the interventions and exploring the use of e-health technologies to support behavior change in this population. The researchers present their findings in the article "Health Behavior Change Interventions for Teenage and Young Adult Cancer Survivors: A Systematic Review."

"The issue of healthy lifestyles is an extremely important component of cancer survivorship, and Gemma Pugh and her colleagues present an excellent framework for ongoing discussion and research into this important topic," says Editor-in-Chief Leonard S. Sender, MD, University of California, Irvine and CHOC Children's Hospital Hyundai Cancer Institute, Orange, CA.

The altered metabolism of two essential amino acids helps drive the development of the most common and lethal form of brain cancer, according to a new study led by researchers at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center - Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC - James). The findings suggest new ways to treat the malignancy, slow its progression and reveal its extent more precisely.
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The study shows that in glioblastoma (GBM), the essential amino acids methionine and tryptophan are abnormally metabolized due to the loss of key enzymes in GBM cells.

The altered methionine metabolism leads to activation of oncogenes, while the changes in tryptophan metabolism shield GBM cells from detection by immune cells. Together, the changes promote tumor progress and cancer-cell survival.

"Our findings suggest that restricting dietary intake of methionine and tryptophan might help slow tumor progression and improve treatment outcomes," says first author and OSUCCC - James researcher Kamalakannan Palanichamy, PhD, research assistant professor in Radiation Oncology.

The study is published in the journal Clinical Cancer Research.