Increased Coffee Consumption Reduces Risk For Liver Damage, Study Finds
SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) -- New research shows that a morning cup of coffee may be doing more than giving you a jolt - it may be actually helping reduce the risk of liver damage.
"We looked at around half a million people, and we found that over the course of many years, those who drank more coffee were less likely to get cirrhosis," British researcher Dr. Oliver Kennedy of Southampton University said.
Kennedy says drinking more than one cup of coffee could also make a difference.
"The more coffee you drank, the more protected from cirrhosis you seem to be," Kennedy said.
Kennedy and his team analyzed data from studies that involved more than 430,000 participants. Cirrhosis kills more than one million people every year worldwide.
"So, for example drinking one cup of coffee per day, compared to none was associated with a twenty two percent reduction in the risk for cirrhosis; whereas drinking four cups of coffee per day were associated with a sixty five percent reduction in the risk of cirrhosis, so we were really surprised by these findings," Kennedy said.
Kennedy says more research is needed to help single out the chemical in coffee that's producing these results.