Can drinking coffee save you from skin cancer

Keep slathering on that sunscreen, but you might also want to reach for a bigger coffee cup in the morning.

A study from University of Washington researchers shows that coffee could help guard against skin cancer. More specifically, it’s the caffeine in coffee that seems combat the cancer at a molecular level.

Lead author Paul Nghiem with the UW School of Medicine said protecting likely lies in the inhibition of a protein enzyme in the skin known as ATR.

“This study has been ten years in the making, since it is much more difficult to genetically target this protein enzyme specifically,” said Nghiem in a prepared statement. “But what it suggests is that caffeine’s protective effect against ultraviolet damage, which we’ve documented in other studies, is likely due to ATR inhibition.”

In short, it appears coffee has superhero-like fighting powers that work in the pre-cancerous stage to make skin healthier.