I've been following the group for about a year now, and decided
post this for all the coffee lovers!

http://www.hivandhepatitis.com/hep_c/news/2005/040405a.html

Over the past 20 years, a body of data has accumulated that suggests a
clear benefit for liver function and liver disease from drinking
coffee. Several studies have demonstrated that drinking coffee lowers
gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT) activity, especially among heavy
alcohol drinkers. In a Japanese study of 2494 men, the mean GGT was
about 30% lower among those who drank 4 or more cups of coffee daily
compared to non drinkers.

Although GGT is a relevant indicator of the risk for cirrhosis, serum
alanine aminotransferase (ALT) activity is a more specific marker of
liver injury, and a few population-based surveys from Italy and Japan
have found a similar inverse relation between coffee drinking and ALT
levels.

Results of a study by Gelatti et al published in the current issue of
the Journal of Hepatology (April 2005) provide more evidence of an
inverse relation between drinking coffee and hepatocellular carcinoma
(HCC) [liver cancer].

The aim of this study was to investigate the role of coffee in HCC,
taking the main risk factors into account. Researchers conducted the
study in northern Italy, where they enrolled 250 hepatocellular (HCC)
patients and 500 controls who had been hospitalized for any reason
other than neoplasms and liver and alcohol-related diseases.

A standardized questionnaire provided information to the investigators
concerning the patients' lifetime history of coffee.

Results

   Coffee consumption by the study group in the decade prior to the
questionnaire/interview was associated with a decreasing risk of HCC
with a clear dose-effect relation.

   With respect to non coffee drinking participants, the odds ratios
(ORs) were: 0.8, for 1-2 cups/day, 0.4 for 3-4 cups/day and 0.3 for 5
or more cups/day.

   The ORs for HCC decreased for drinking >2, compared to 0-2
cups/day of coffee, for an alcohol intake >80g/day, for presence of
hepatitis B virus infection or hepatitis C virus infection.

The authors conclude, "Coffee drinking was inversely associated with
hepatocellular carcinoma regardless of its etiology."

Discussion

Compared with non coffee drinkers, the relative risks (RRs) were 0.8
for drinkers of 1-2 cups per day, 0.4 for those of 3-4 cups, and 0.3
for drinkers of five or more cups per day. The inverse relation
between coffee and primary liver cancer is stronger than in previous
studies, indicating that the relation is probably real, and not due to
chance.

The combined, pooled RR from three published studies of coffee and
hepatocellular carcinoma for drinkers of three or more cups of coffee
per day as compared to non coffee drinkers is approximately 0.6.

More important, the study by Gelatti et al. provides original
information on the independent effect of coffee from the major
recognized risk factors for primary liver cancer. The inverse relation
with coffee, in fact, was of similar magnitude in subjects negative or
positive for HBV or HCV serum markers, as well as in non- or moderate
drinkers and in heavy drinkers.

Coffee appears to have a real, but moderate effect in reducing the
risk of hepatocellular carcinoma. Various components of coffee have
been related to such a favorable effect, including caffeine, coffee
oils kahweol or cafestol, and antioxidant substances from coffee
beans, but no definite evidence is available for any of these
components.

Despite these uncertainties, HCC should be added to other digestive
tract cancers on which a favorable role of coffee drinking has been
suggested, including oral and pharyngeal, oesophageal and colorectal
cancers.

04/04/05

References
U Gelatti and others (for the Brescia HCC Study Group). Coffee
consumption reduces the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma independently
of its aetiology: a case-control study. Journal of Hepatology 42(4):
528-534. April 2005.

C La Vecchia. Coffee, liver enzymes, cirrhosis and liver cancer
(Editorial). Journal of Hepatology 42(4): 444-446. April 2005.