Drinking Coffee Is Good For Your Liver, Research Says

Coffee might be saving your liver from cancer and other damage, so drink up.

A report from Coffee and Health, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to research on the health benefits of coffee, has suggested that overall coffee might reduce the risk of liver diseases as much as 70 percent, based on research into the relationship between coffee and liver cancer, cirrhosis and chronic liver disease.

“The liver is a major organ in the body and is involved in a number of vital metabolic processes including the regulation of blood sugar and fat, the digestion of food to nutrients, and the neutralisation and detoxification of drugs and toxins,” the report reads. “Consequently, any damage to liver cells can have a significant impact on overall health.”

It adds that moderate coffee intake, which is defined as being between three and five cups a day, might reduce the risk of liver damage and cancer. That reduced risk is measured as 40 percent for cancer, depending on how much coffee is consumed, and between 25 percent and 70 percent for cirrhosis.

Cirrhosis is when scar tissue slowly takes over the liver, replacing healthy tissue and blocking blood flow in that organ and impeding function, the U.S. National Institutes of Health explain.

According to Coffee and Health, the new report stemmed from a roundtable with liver experts at London’s Royal Society of Medicine.

“Liver disease is a silent killer as often there are no symptoms until it’s too late,” Judi Rhys, chief executive of the British Liver Trust, said in the organization statement. “Coffee is something that is easily accessible to everyone and regularly drinking it — filtered, instant or espresso — may make a difference in preventing and, in some cases, slowing down the progression of liver disease. It is an easy lifestyle choice to make.”