A new study is fighting against the common perception that coffee is bad for those who frequently drink the beverage.

A recent study has reportedly found that a major health benefit of coffee is lowering the risk for the most serious type of skin cancer, malignant melanoma, according to CBS News.

For the study, which was conducted by researchers from the National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health and Yale School of Public Health at Yale University in New Haven, CT, the team reportedly assessed data from the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study on more than 447,000 non-Hispanic whites, according to Medical News Today. Participants reportedly completed a food frequency questionnaire at the beginning of the study, which detailed their coffee intake, and incidence of melanoma among subjects was monitored over an average of 10.5 years.

During this period of time, 2,905 participants reportedly developed melanoma.

Researchers reportedly found that the more coffee participants consumed each day, the less likely they were to develop melanoma during the follow-up period.

“Higher coffee intake was associated with a modest decrease in risk of melanoma in this large US cohort study. Additional investigations of coffee intake and its constituents, particularly caffeine, with melanoma are warranted,” the researchers reportedly stated.

Drinking four cups of coffee a day was reportedly associated with a 20% lower risk of melanoma.

Surprisingly, decaffeinated coffee reportedly did not provide the same protective benefits.

Although the recent study may be positive for coffee drinkers all around, authors reportedly stated that their findings are preliminary and may not be applicable to other populations.

“Because of its high disease burden, lifestyle modifications with even modest protective effects may have a meaningful impact on melanoma morbidity,” researchers concluded.