The best part of your morning coffee might not be the caffeine kick.
A study recently published in the journal Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology suggests that just one or two cups a day can reduce the risk of suffering from serious liver diseases.
The study included more than 355,000 healthy adults who completed dietary questionnaires and were followed for about 13 years.
The results: People who drank more coffee — five or more cups a day — had a 32% lower risk of cirrhosis, a 47% lower risk of liver cancer, and a 42% lower risk of dying from liver disease.
Magnetic resonance imaging showed that coffee consumers also had less liver fat, inflammation, and scarring, while blood tests indicated healthier liver function.
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But the researchers stressed that these findings are not a recommendation to drink five or more cups of coffee a day.
They said that the benefits actually started with just one or two cups a day and were seen to be stronger with three or four cups daily.
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“Our findings support moderate coffee consumption for people who already enjoy it and tolerate it well,” said lead author Dr. Ju Dong Yang, medical director of the Liver Cancer Program at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles.
Both regular and decaffeinated coffee were linked to healthier liver outcomes, suggesting that there might be something more than caffeine at play.
Although more research is needed, the authors stated that coffee consumption could complement healthy habits such as exercising, maintaining a healthy weight, and limiting alcohol.
“The next step in our research is to identify the specific coffee compounds responsible for these liver-protective associations,” said study author Dr. Shelly Lu, director of the Karsh Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at Cedars-Sinai. “Our findings point to biological pathways involving inflammation and scarring and highlight molecular targets that future research can explore to better understand how coffee may influence liver health and who benefits most.”
