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Scientists believe the chemical found in coffee absorbs ultraviolet radiation when applied to the skin and prevents tumours after exposure to sunlight.

They found in experiments that mice were slower to develop skin cancer if they were genetically engineered to suppress a particular enzyme, as caffeine does.

Previous research has suggested that drinking coffee could reduce risk of developing skin cancer, as caffeine appears to kill off cells that have been damaged by ultraviolet radiation from the sun before they become cancerous.

In the new experiment, researchers at Rutgers University in the US genetically engineered mice to have a reduced function of ATR, an enzyme that “rescues” damaged cells. Caffeine is known to suppress ATR, causing the damaged cells to die rather than turn cancerous, so the mice were mimicking its effect.

When the mice were exposed to UV light, the modified ones developed tumours three weeks later than unmodified ones.

After 19 weeks, the subject mice had 69 per cent fewer tumours than the unmodified ones, The Daily Telegraph reported.