Can More Coffee Lead to Less Liver Damage? Study Finds Link

If you’re looking for a reason to have that extra cup of coffee in the morning, there is good news. Drinking two more cups of coffee each day has been linked to a dramatically lowered odds of the liver damage caused by excessive alcohol, a recent study found.

The analysis of nine studies totaling more than 430,000 participants found that drinking those two extra mugs of mud each day is linked to a 44 percent reduced risk of liver cirrhosis, a disease often caused by excessive alcohol consumption. Cirrhosis of the liver also can be caused by drugs and certain viral infections, such as hepatitis B and C. A growing cause of cirrhosis of the liver is fatty liver disease.

Cirrhosis is a slowly developing disease in which healthy liver tissue is replaced with scar tissue. The scar tissue blocks the flow of blood through the liver and slows the liver’s ability to process nutrients, hormones, drugs and natural toxins. It also reduces the production of proteins and other substances made by the liver. Cirrhosis eventually keeps the liver from working properly.

Cirrhosis of the liver is a serious condition that causes more than 1 million deaths per year.

Coffee alone, however, cannot reverse the lifestyle choices that result in cirrhosis