A new study published in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology concluded coffee consumption reduces the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the most common type of liver cancer, by about 40 percent. The researchers said “Our research confirmed past claims that coffee is good for your health, and particularly the liver.”
A meta-analysis of articles published between 1996 and 2012 was carried out and 16 high quality studies with a total of 3,153 cases was selected for analysis. There was consistency of results across studies, time periods, and populations but it was difficult to establish whether the association between coffee drinking and HCC found was causal or if the relationship was a result of patients with liver and digestive diseases voluntarily reducing their coffee intake. Researchers said “It remains unclear whether coffee drinking has an additional role in liver cancer prevention.” They continue on to say that the role of coffee consumption would be limited compared to what is available through current measures such as hepatitis B virus vaccination, control of hepatitis C virus transmission and reduction of alcohol drinking that in total an avoid more than 90 percent of primary liver cancers worldwide.