Saturday, May 28, 2011

Caffeine as a Skin Cancer Answer

The most common form of skin cancer, basal cell carcinoma, tends to strike people who have "perfect" skin. Now a growing body of scientific evidence suggests that caffeine in skin care products and caffeine from daily consumption of coffee and tea may greatly reduce the risk of developing this disfiguring form of skin cancer caused by too much exposure to the sun.


Basal cell carcinomas are bumps that look like tiny pearls embedded in the skin. They have a raised center that may or may not be a focal point for tiny, broken blood vessels. Sometimes they form a tiny crater where the skin has not been physically injured. They get itchy but don't respond to usual methods of relieving itchy skin.

In people who have sensitive, breakout-prone skin, the immune system's natural cleanup process eliminates many basal cell carcinomas almost as soon as they start. In people who have naturally great skin, these tiny cancers have more opportunities to grow. Caffeine, however, may cause basal cell carcinomas to self-destruct.

Dr. Paul Nghiem, associated with the Department of Dermatology at the medical school at the University of Washington, has discovered that applying caffeine to non-melanoma skin cancer cells in the test interrupts their production of a protein called ATR-Chk1. When the cells stop producing this protein, they die.

Caffeine only has this effect, however, on basal cell carcinoma cells. It does not "flip the off switch" in healthy skin cells.

The easiest way to deliver a daily dose of caffeine directly to your skin is to use a skin cream that contains caffeine. Since basal cell carcinoma is activated by over-exposure to sunlight, a product like Topix Replenix CF Anti-Photoaging Complex SPF 45 is a great general-purpose skin protector. Skin care products that are basically designed to prevent flushing, blushing, and rosacea outbreaks with the power of caffeine, such as the La Roche Posay Rosaliac line, may also be helpful.

Bur simply drinking coffee and tea (you don't have to start drinking more than you do now) may also help, especially if you exercise. When Dr. Allen Conney of Rutgers University tested the effects of caffeine in treating skin cancer of animals in his lab, he found that giving them caffeine caused a 95% increase in apoptosis (flipping the cellular switch to cause cell suicide) in skin cancer cells.

Having the animals exercise more, increasing circulation to the skin, caused a 120% increase in the rate at which skin cancer cells were killed. And the combination of caffeine and exercise resulted in a 400% increase in skin cancer destruction.

Scientists have not yet determined how much exercise or how much caffeine would have a similar effect in humans. They just seem to be a good idea in general, as long as they are not taken to an extreme.

Don't rely on caffeine or any other natural product, however, to take the place of sun protection. There are no natural products that protect against the deadlier form of skin cancer, melanoma, and avoiding basal cell carcinoma is primarily a matter of getting just enough sun for your skin to make vitamin D (about 20 minutes a day) and then being very sure to use sunscreen.

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