Can Joe’s daily cup save you from liver disease?

In a large observational study, British researchers found that coffee drinkers had a lower risk of dying from chronic liver disease and chronic liver disease than those who did not.

Compared to non-coffee drinkers, coffee drinkers have a 49% reduced risk of dying from chronic liver disease (HR 0.51 95% CI 0.39-0.67) and a 20% to 21% risk of developing chronic liver disease. Decreased (HR 0.79, 95% CI 0.72-0.86) and accidental chronic liver disease or steatosis (HR 0.80, 95% CI 0.75-0.86) were reported by Oliver J. Kennedy, MD, of the University of Southern Pton, UK. I reported.

However, the association between coffee consumption and hepatocellular carcinoma was not significant (HR 0.80, 95% CI 0.54-1.19), the author writes: BMC Public Health.

“The idea that drinking coffee reduces the harmful risk of chronic liver disease has been raised for some time,” said Craig Gluckman, MD, MD, UCLA Health’s gastroenterologist in West Hills, California. “. Today’s MedPage..

“Because of the heavy burden of chronic liver disease such as alcohol, viral hepatitis, and fatty liver, we must take the potential protection mechanism seriously,” Gluckman, who was not involved in the study, added. I did.

Kennedy et al. State that chronic liver disease can lead to fibrosis, cirrhosis, liver failure, or death, and treatment options are often limited in low- and middle-income countries where the incidence remains high. I have.

Previous research Higher coffee intake was found to reduce the risk of chronic liver disease, and studies have linked it to coffee prevention. Hepatocellular carcinoma.. The authors are the first large cohort to investigate all coffee types, including decaffeinated, ground coffee, and instant coffee, and all types reduce the onset and progression of chronic liver disease. Said to have found.

“Caffeine is a non-selective antagonist of A_2A Receptors, whose activation stimulates collagen production by hepatic stellate cells, the major mediator of fibrosis, “they write. “Given the protective effects of different types of coffee in different compositions, there may be complex relationships involving multiple active ingredients.”

The study analyzed data from 494,585 people from 22 UK Biobank Centers who had medical or death records for statistical analysis. Among them, 78% were coffee drinkers.

The main results included the incidence of death caused by chronic liver disease, hepatocellular carcinoma, or chronic liver disease associated with all types of coffee consumption. The incidence of chronic liver disease or steatosis was also assessed.

The average age of the participants was 58 years. The average daily coffee consumption was two cups a day. People who do not drink coffee are more likely not to be smokers or drinkers, but they are also more likely to have cases of obesity or diabetes than those who drink coffee.

Those who drink the most daily coffee (more than 5 cups a day) are more likely to be men, smokers, and overweight.

Instant coffee was the most popular type (55%), followed by ground coffee (23%) and decaffeinated coffee (19%).

Between 2006 and 2019, researchers found that 5,439 developed chronic liver disease or steatosis and 3,600 participants developed chronic liver disease. In addition, during an average follow-up of 10.7 years, there were 184 participants who developed hepatocellular carcinoma, and 301 participants died of chronic liver disease.

Andrew Talal, MD, MD, Ph.D., University at Buffalo, New York, claims that the findings are applicable to low- and middle-income countries, but states that “some words to note are worthwhile.” It was. Today’s MedPage..

Specifically, Talal states that the short follow-up period for this study is “about half of the other two studies that evaluated similar effects of coffee.”

Kennedy’s group found that the protective effect of coffee drinkers was limited to about 3-4 cups of coffee drinkers per day, but additional cups did not show additional benefits. ..

“With the idea that drinking too much coffee is completely safe, as a result of this study, people need to be careful not to drink too much coffee,” Gluckman said. “The other important thing to note is that other modifiable risk factors, such as weight loss and drinking restrictions, need to be addressed, and drinking coffee is no substitute for this.”

Talal added that “the cause could not be identified” because the study evaluated the relevance of coffee at some point.

“In addition, caffeine should not be used in children. It should be used with caution in people with sleep disorders and during pregnancy,” says Talal. “The finding that decaffeinated coffee has a protective effect may be helpful in considering situations where decaffeinated administration needs to be used with caution.”

Additional restrictions pointed out by Kennedy and colleagues are that the observation design, coffee cup size was subjective and could have been misclassified, and that ex-coffee drinkers were also excluded.

The population composition of the participants was predominantly elderly and Caucasian, with the majority of the participants coming from higher socio-economic status. They also pointed out that medical coding errors may have occurred in the data. This may have misreported liver disease classifications such as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and steatosis.