Some Prefer Cancer

Article #2: Some Prefer Cancer By Lewis E. Machatka

A surgeon from Ohio State University, Dr. John F. Minton, has given his female patients a choice to either give up coffee drinking or undergo surgery to remove breast lumps. He gave 47 women the choice of abandoning coffee or going under the surgeon’s knife. The breast lumps disappeared after two months in one woman who decided to give up the caffeine habit.

The cancer-causing culprits are known as methylated xanthines. These chemicals are found in conjunction with caffeine in coffee, tea, colas and cocoa. They cause the speedy growth of fibrous protective tissues, known as tumors. These chemicals also interfere with the functioning of certain tissue enzymes needed for tissue building and cell metabolism.

These fibrous tissues sometimes grow into massive lumps. They are not usually cancerous, but the women who develop them are four times more likely to develop malignant growths. It is also suspected that methylxanthines may cause prostate enlargement. The tissue of the prostate gland is similar to that of the breast, but fibrous growths on the prostate are much harder to detect.

These are some of the preliminary results of continuing research. It is clear that a word of caution has been sounded to all coffee, tea, cola, and cocoa drinkers.

It appears that the elimination of these caffeine products may be “hard medicine to swallow,” as of the 47 women who had a choice of either giving up coffee or undergoing surgery, 27 preferred the operation. Those 27 have a surprise in store. By continuing the intake of caffeine-related carcinogens, they’ll merely cause cancer somewhere else in their bodies.

Reprinted from Health Crusader March 1980