Coffee may help prevent cirrhosis of the liver

Researchers in the U.S. suggest that drinking coffee may help protect against alcohol-related cirrhosis of the liver.

A team of researchers from Kaiser Permanente a non-profit making integrated health group in California followed more than 125,580 multiethnic health plan members who underwent a voluntary medical exam between 1978 and 1985.

None of the members had diagnosed liver disease at the time and all were asked to complete a questionnaire detailing how much alcohol, coffee and tea they drank per day.

The researchers found that by the end of 2001, 330 participants had been diagnosed with liver disease, including 199 with alcoholic cirrhosis and it appeared that the more coffee a person drank, the less likely they were to develop alcoholic cirrhosis of the liver.

Dr. Arthur Klatsky lead author of the study and an investigator with Kaiser Permanente's Division of Research, says coffee appears to provide some protective benefits against alcoholic cirrhosis, and the more coffee a person consumes the less risk they seem to have of being hospitalized or dying of alcoholic cirrhosis.

Dr. Klatsky says a similar protective association between coffee and non-alcoholic cirrhosis was not seen.

Klatsky warns that the findings should not be viewed as a recommendation to drink more coffee in order to deal with heavy alcohol consumption.

He says the value of the study lies in the clues offered as to the biochemical processes taking place inside liver cells that could help discover new ways to protect the liver against injury.

The study found that people drinking one cup of coffee a day were, on average, 20 percent less likely to have alcoholic cirrhosis.

For people drinking two or three cups the reduction was 40 percent, and for those drinking four or more cups of coffee a day the reduction in risk was 80 percent.

Klatsky says even when allowances are made for statistical variation, there remains a clear association between coffee consumption, and protection against alcoholic cirrhosis.

According to the National Center for Health Statistics, there are more than 5 million cases of chronic liver disease and cirrhosis in the United States, and nearly 28,000 people die of chronic liver disease every year.

Cirrhosis is a disease that causes progressive damage, and impaired function of the liver. There are numerous causes, including alcohol, viruses, obesity or genetic problems.

Kaiser Permanente researchers first reported the relationship between coffee and cirrhosis in 1993 and several later studies have confirmed that coffee drinkers are less likely to have high levels of enzymes in the liver.

Liver enzymes can be markers for inflammation or indications of other problems, including disease. The biggest apparent protective benefits were among those who consumed the most alcohol.

According to the researchers the biggest apparent protective benefits were among those who consumed the most alcohol but they did not see a similar protective effect among tea drinkers, which suggests there may be something in coffee other than caffeine that helps protect against alcoholic cirrhosis.

This study was funded by the Kaiser Foundation Research Institute and the Alcoholic Beverage Medical Research Foundation.

Kaiser Permanente was founded in 1945 and is America's leading integrated health plan.

It has more than 8.5 million members in nine states and the District of Columbia.

Kaiser Permanente has approximately 145,000 technical, administrative and clerical employees and caregivers, and more than 12,000 physicians representing all specialties.

The organisation conducts, publishes, and disseminates epidemiologic and health services research to improve the quality and cost-effectiveness of health care.

Currently more than 250 epidemiological and health services research projects are being carried out by the organisation.

The study is published in the June 12 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.