| Coffee drinking may protect the
liver from damage
By Karla Gale
NEW ORLEANS (Reuters Health) - Coffee and other caffeinated beverages
may provide some protection from liver damage in people at risk
for liver disease, according to research presented here at Digestive
Disease Week.
Using data from the third US National Health and Nutrition Examination
Survey, conducted between 1988 and 1994, Drs. James E. Everhart
and Constance E. Ruhl assessed the association between caffeinated
beverage consumption and liver disease.
Among people at risk for liver disease due to excessive alcohol
use or other factors, drinking more than two cups of coffee per
day seemed to protect against liver damage.
Compared with people who didn't drink the beverage, those who did
were 44-percent less likely to show evidence of liver damage. The
risk reduction seen with consumption of any caffeinated beverage
was even higher, at 69 percent.
These findings are not sufficient for making recommendations regarding
caffeine intake, especially since caffeine may have other deleterious
effects, but they should stimulate further research, said Everhart,
who is chief medical officer at a branch of the National Institutes
of Health.
As to how caffeine protects the liver, he told Reuters Health that
previous research has shown that one of caffeine's primary effects
is blocking cell structures called adenosine receptors. The early
effect of this blockade is stimulation of the immune system that
could protect the liver, "but we don't know what the (ongoing)
effects are," he added.
Digestive Disease Week is jointly sponsored by the American Association
for the Study of Liver Diseases, the American Gastroenterological
Association, the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy,
and the Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract.
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