Study: Drinking 3 to 4 cups of coffee a day reduces liver cancer risk

A study released Monday suggests that drinking three to four cups of coffee a day reduces the risk of liver cancer.

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According to the study published Monday in the journal BMC Public Health, coffee drinkers were 21% less likely to develop chronic liver disease, 20% less likely to develop chronic or fatty liver disease, and 49% less likely to die from chronic liver disease than non-coffee drinkers.

The study analyzed the coffee consumption habits of 494,585 participants of the UK Biobank, a biomedical database and research resource. The study followed participants for nearly a dozen years.

While participants were followed for more than a decade, they were only asked about their coffee consumption at one point in the 11 years their health was monitored.

If someone had changed the amount of coffee that was consumed, researchers would not have taken that into consideration.

One of the study’s authors, Prof. Paul Roderick of the University of Southampton, said the study does not definitively show that coffee is the main reason for the reduction of the risk of liver disease and cancer.

“It does, however, raise the issue that it might be an effective intervention to prevent severe liver disease, say in those at high risk,” Roderick said.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), which is seen mainly in those who are obese, affects up to 25% of people in the United States, according to the American Liver Foundation.

NAFLD is the most common form of liver disease in children and has more than doubled during the past 20 years.

Other studies have shown the benefits of coffee in the fight against breast cancer, colon cancer and diabetes.

The Mayo Clinic points out that “coffee still has potential risks, mostly due to its high caffeine content. For example, it can temporarily raise blood pressure. Women who are pregnant, trying to become pregnant or breastfeeding need to be cautious about caffeine. High intake of boiled, unfiltered coffee has been associated with mild increase in cholesterol levels.”

According to a story from The New York Times, three to five cups of coffee daily is OK for most of us, and research has shown it can be beneficial.

“The evidence is pretty consistent that coffee is associated with a lower risk of mortality,” said Erikka Loftfield, a research fellow at the National Cancer Institute. Loftfield has studied the benefits of coffee.

According to the Times, a large 2017 review on coffee consumption and human health in the British Medical Journal showed that the beverage was linked to a health benefit more often than it was found to be harmful to one’s health.

In that study, moderate coffee drinkers were found to have less cardiovascular disease and premature death from all causes than those who do not drink coffee.

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