The caffeine connection - Extra Health - Brief Article

Muscle & Fitness/Hers, Dec, 2002

Are coffee, tea, cola or chocolate daily indulgences?

Consider changing the menu: A strong link exists between these Foods and soft, tender breast cysts, often referred to as fibrocystic breast change, in premenopausal women. The cysts are usually noticeable in the week or two before menstruation, are freely movable and typically occur in both breasts, writes Sat Dharam Kaur, ND, in A Call to Women: The Healthy Breast Program and Workbook (Quarry Press, 2000).

Coffee, tea, cola and chocolate all contain methylxanthines, which may cause the overproduction of fibrous tissue and cyst fluid in breast tissue--changes thought to increase the risk of developing breast cancer, Dharam Kaur explains. Although methylxanthines are just one cause of fibrocystic breast change and removing them from the diet resolves cysts in many women, breast lumps and cysts should always be examined by a trained health practitioner.