Coffee drinkers may have a reduced risk of liver cancer

Coffee May Cut Risk of Liver Cancer

As the debate over saturated fats rages on, there’s another health debate raging that will probably never be completely settled: Coffee – good or bad for you?

In previous e-Alerts I’ve told you about some of coffee’s potential effects: both the good (may help prevent Alzheimer’s disease) and the bad (may contribute to rheumatoid arthritis).

Today we add another one to the “good” column.

Studies have indicated that coffee drinkers may have a reduced risk of liver cancer. So researchers in Japan recently combined data from two large studies that examined coffee consumption in more than 60,000 subjects.

As reported in the International Journal of Cancer, occasional coffee drinkers had a 30 percent lower risk of liver cancer compared to subjects who didn’t drink coffee. Risk was even lower for those who drank coffee daily, which confirms the results of a recent study that found regular coffee consumption to be linked with a significantly reduced risk of developing a type of liver cancer known as hepatocellular carcinoma.

The Japanese team notes that the next step in this research will be to examine coffee consumption in subjects who are at high risk of liver cancer.

Sources:
“More Evidence Coffee May Cut Risk of Liver Cancer” Dominique Patton, NutraIngredients, 8/4/05, nutraingredients.com