“Chocolate, cola and coffee could form the basis of new anticancer drugs, scientists believe” (BBC News).

They say the active ingredients in these, caffeine and theophylline, might be effective in fighting cancer because they target phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K), a signalling molecule that regulates cell motility and survival. Many pharmaceutical companies are in the process of developing agents that target PI3K as cancer therapeutics.

Researchers expressed the p110δ subunit of PI3K in insect cells, and showed that its lipid-kinase activity could be inhibited by both caffeine and theophylline.

But before you rush off to buy more chocolate, be warned that the study involved “high concentrations of caffeine that would be unheathy for human use. Caffeine has well-known side effects that make it inappropriate for drug use” (The Guardian).

The next step will therefore be to develop compounds that mimic the structure of caffeine without the negative effects.