Coffee and other caffeinated beverages may provide some protection from liver damage in people at risk for liver disease, according to research presented at Digestive Disease Week.

Using data from the third US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, conducted between 1988 and 1994, Drs. James E. Everhart and Constance E. Ruhl assessed the association between caffeinated beverage consumption and liver disease.

Among people at risk for liver disease due to excessive alcohol use or other factors, drinking more than two cups of coffee per day seemed to protect against liver damage.

Compared with people who didn't drink the beverage, those who did were 44-percent less likely to show evidence of liver damage. The risk reduction seen with consumption of any caffeinated beverage was even higher, at 69 percent.

These findings are not sufficient for making recommendations regarding caffeine intake, especially since caffeine may have other deleterious effects, but they should stimulate further research, said Everhart, who is chief medical officer at a branch of the National Institutes of Health.

As to how caffeine protects the liver, he stated that previous research has shown that one of caffeine's primary effects is blocking cell structures called adenosine receptors. The early effect of this blockade is stimulation of the immune system that could protect the liver, "but we don't know what the (ongoing) effects are," he added.

Digestive Disease Week is jointly sponsored by the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, the American Gastroenterological Association, the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, and the Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract.

Reference Source 89

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