Coffee may raise child cancer risk

Experts say caffeine may damage the DNA of children in the womb. They become more susceptible to leukaemia, the most common cancer in children.

Women who drink coffee or tea during pregnancy may increase their baby’s odds of developing cancer, doctors believe.

Researcher Dr Marcus Cooke said there was a ‘good likelihood’ the study would make a connection. Previous research has shown that caffeine damages DNA, cutting cells’ ability to fight off cancer triggers such as radiation.

To establish the link, scientists at Leicester University will scrutinise the caffeine intake of hundreds of pregnant women and compare the results with blood samples from their children after birth.

‘Although there’s no evidence at all of a link between caffeine and cancer, we’re putting four and four together and saying: caffeine can induce these changes and it has been shown that these changes are elevated in leukaemia patients,’ added Dr Cooke.

Changes of this kind have been seen in the blood cells of children with leukaemia. Scientists know they occur in the womb, but do not know why.

‘I wonder if caffeine can somehow sensitise cells or increase the risk of leukaemia? The idea seems plausible.

‘It is vital for mothers that they either confirm caffeine as a trigger that can make something happen to a kid while in the womb or rule it out.’

The Food Standards Agency recently reduced the amount of caffeine it advises can be safely consumed in pregnancy from 300mg a day to 200mg. This is equivalent to four mugs of instant coffee, three cups of tea or four cans of cola.

Future Doctors Could Sniff Out Cancer

Skin cancer is on the rise in this country. The disease is currently diagnosed by taking a tissue sample of suspicious moles or lesions on the skin, which can be a slow & painful process. In cases where there are no outward signs of skin cancer, the disease can be difficult to detect, leading to a delayed or missed diagnosis.

Doctors in the future could detect the most common form of cancer in US just by waving a wand-like scanner over patients, researchers claim.

"We're the first to identify & quantify the compounds involved in skin cancer odors," said researcher Michelle Gallagher, an analytical chemist at specialty materials company Rohm & Haas in Spring House, Pa.

Recently, scientists found that dogs can actually be trained to sniff out skin tumors. This suggests the disease leads to changes within ill cells that release telltale chemicals. Medical tools that could detect these differences could give doctors a critical lead in fighting skin cancer.

"Knowledge of a link between odor & disease goes back to ancient Greece & ancient Rome," researcher George Preti, an analytical organic chemist with Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, told LiveScience. For instance, sweet-smelling breath was a telltale sign of diabetes, while a foul odor from a wound indicated infection.


"We found a different profile of chemicals above tumor sites relative to healthy skin," Gallagher said. "The same chemicals are present, but at skin cancer sites some chemicals are increased, while others are decreased compared to healthy individuals."

Gallagher declined to give specific details as to what chemicals we discovered. The researchers have applied for a patent on their technique.

The scientists plan to identify the scents linked with the six other most common types of skin cancer, including squamous cell cancer & melanoma, the deadliest form. If we succeed, we hope to combine their findings with emerging "electronic nose" technology designed to identify odors. Gallagher envisions a wand-like tool that can get waved across the skin & give off an alarm or beep when cancer is detected, similar to the fictional medical "tricorder" from "Star Trek."