While coffee has been blamed from everything to stunting your growth to heart disease, the popular beverage has also been linked to lowered risks of suicide, Parkinson's disease and type 2 diabetes, and most recently, new research suggests that coffee may lower your risk of developing liver cancer, Bioscience Technology reports.
Data from a new report, published in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, indicates that three cups or more a day could drastically cut your risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the most common type of liver cancer, by up to 50 percent.
Liver cancer is the sixth most common cancer in the around, with HCC accounting for 90 percent of cases. Preventative measures include hepatitis B virus vaccination, control of hepatitis C virus transmission and the reduction of alcohol drinking, but perhaps coffee may someday be added to the list.
"Our research confirms past claims that coffee is good for your health, and particularly the liver," said Carlo La Vecchia, study author from the department of epidemiology, Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche "Mario Negri," and department of clinical sciences and community health, Università degli Studi di Milan, Italy. "The favorable effect of coffee on liver cancer might be mediated by coffee's proven prevention of diabetes, a known risk factor for the disease, or for its beneficial effects on cirrhosis and liver enzymes."
The Italian researchers performed a meta-analysis of data, analyzing a total of 16 high-quality studies and 3,153 studies published from 1996 through September 2012. Despite consistencies among various studies in regards to populations and time periods, the researchers were still unable to scientifically establish whether or not the link between coffee and HCC was casual or "partially attributable to the fact that patients with liver and digestive diseases often voluntarily reduce their coffee intake."
"It remains unclear whether coffee drinking has an additional role in liver cancer prevention," Dr. La Vecchia told Bioscience Technology. "But, in any case, such a role would be limited as compared to what is achievable through the current measures."
