Four or more cups of coffee a day can reduce liver cancer risk by up to 42 percent, a new study finds.
Researchers found that people who drank up to six cups of coffee a week experienced a 29 percent reduction in the risk of developing hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the most common type of liver cancer. Alternatively, people who drank more than four cups of this brewed beverage daily experienced a 42 percent reduction in the risk of HCC.
"Coffee intake has been suggested to lower the risk for HCC in epidemiologic studies, but these studies were conducted outside of the United States," lead author of the study, V Wendy Setiawan, Ph.D.V., said in a press statement. "We wanted to examine whether coffee consumption is associated with risk for developing HCC in multiethnic U.S. populations.
The new study was conducted on 179,890 men and women, which included 45,641 Caucasians, 29,486 African Americans, 13,118 Native Hawaiians, 52,548 Japanese Americans, and 39,097 Latinos. At the start of the study, researchers noted information regarding the participants' coffee consumption habits, lifestyle and other dietary factors. The study was conducted over a period of 18 years. During this time, 498 participants developed HC.
Researchers confirmed that the association between coffee consumption and lower HCC risk was independent of participants' ethnicity, gender, body mass index, smoking status, alcohol intake, and diabetes status. The link was also independent of hepatitis B and C infections.
"The roles of specific coffee components that are actually protective against HCC remain open to discussion," said Setiawan. Her team will next examine whether coffee consumption is associated with incidence and mortality associated with various chronic liver diseases across ethnic groups.
