Coffee Can Help Prevent Cirrhosis Of The Liver
Posted June 13, 2006 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Coffee is usually what drunks are given to help them sober up. So it’s something of an irony that same drink may be able to defeat one of the worst side effects of booze itself.
A study of 125,000 people in the U.S. finds that people who drank a single cup of coffee every day reduced their risk of getting cirrhosis of the liver by 20 percent. Drink four cups of joe and the chance goes down to 80 percent.
Cirrhosis is a disease that causes scar tissue to form on the vital organ over time, making it unable to detoxify the body.
The results were a surprise to scientists, who still aren’t quite sure why the coffee break leads to such an illness brake.
“The growing body of evidence seems to suggest that there’s something about coffee that might lower your risk of alcohol related liver disease,” agrees Prof. Ahmed El-Sohemy of the University of Toronto’s Nutritional Sciences.
Whether it’s the caffeine in the coffee or some other ingredient that protects the liver still isn’t clear. But this is – drinking tea didn’t have the same effect.
But El-Sohemy warns the findings aren’t carte blanche to get blasted. “The most important thing among those heavy alcohol drinkers is to really cut back on the alcohol,” he advises.
Most imbibers agree.
“I think moderation is the key,” agrees one man as he sips at a beer. “Have your booze, have your coffee and enjoy life.”
