16 Studies Find Coffee Reduces Liver Cancer Risk by 40%

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A recent 2013 study that reviewed data from 16 different medical studies found that daily coffee consumption can reduce the risk of the most common form of liver cancer by 40%.  Moreover, it found that drinking three cups or more per day could cut the risk by more than 50%.

The conclusions of this research are particularly important because it compiled the results from a number of clinical studies dating from 1996.  Doing so provides an estimated risk reduction rate more reliable and consistent than a rate given by only a single study.

According to author Carlo La Vecchia, MD, from the Instituto di Recerche Farmacologiche and the Università degli Studi di Milan, Italy, “Our research confirms past claims that coffee is good for your health, and particularly the liver.  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 study stops short of asserting a clear causal connection between coffee and reduced liver cancer risk, but makes the point that regular coffee consumption can play an integral part in preventing the sixth most common cancer, as well as the cancer third most responsible for all cancer deaths.

It goes on to cite hepatitis, tobacco, obesity, diabetes, and, as is more commonly known, alcohol, as the five major risk factors for liver cancer.  If so, then based on the results of this study, a hot cup of coffee may very well be the best hangover cure.

 

 

Sources:

http://www.gastro.org/news/articles/2013/10/22/coffee-consumption-reduces-risk-of-liver-cancer

Jonathan Cho