Oakland, Calif. Monday, June 12th 2006 - Drinking coffee could help protect against alcohol-related cirrhosis of the liver. That’s the finding of a new study in the June 12 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.
Researchers interviewed the women around their 10th week of pregnancy
and found that 41 percent of the women reported significant or severe
depressive symptoms. The women with less severe depressive symptoms had a
60 percent higher risk of preterm delivery -- defined as delivery at
less than 37 completed weeks of gestation -- compared with women without
significant depressive symptoms, and the women with severe depressive
symptoms had more than twice the risk.
“Consuming coffee seems to have some protective benefits against
alcoholic cirrhosis, and the more coffee a person consumes the less risk
they seem to have of being hospitalized or dying of alcoholic
cirrhosis,” said Arthur Klatsky, MD, an investigator with Kaiser
Permanente’s Division of Research and the lead author of the study. “We
did not see a similar protective association between coffee and
non-alcoholic cirrhosis.”
“This is not a recommendation to drink coffee,” said Klatsky. “Nor is it
a recommendation that the way to deal with heavy alcohol consumption is
to drink more coffee. The value of this study is that it may offer us
some clues as to the biochemical processes taking place inside liver
cells that could help in finding new ways to protect the liver against
injury.”
The researchers found that people drinking one cup of coffee a day were,
on average, 20 percent less likely to have alcoholic cirrhosis. For
people drinking two or three cups the reduction was 40 percent, and for
those drinking four or more cups of coffee a day the reduction in risk
was 80 percent.
“Even allowing for statistical variation, this shows there is a clear
association between coffee consumption, and protection against alcoholic
cirrhosis,” said Klatsky.
Cirrhosis is a disease that causes progressive damage, and impaired
function of the liver. There are numerous causes including alcohol,
viruses, obesity or genetic problems. According to the National Center
for Health Statistics there are more than 5 million cases of chronic
liver disease and cirrhosis in the United States, and nearly 28,000
people die of chronic liver disease every year.
The inverse relationship between coffee and cirrhosis was first reported
by researchers at Kaiser Permanente in 1993. Subsequently several other
studies confirmed that coffee drinkers are less likely to have high
levels of enzymes in the liver. Those liver enzymes can be markers for
inflammation or indications of other problems, including disease. The
biggest apparent protective benefits were among those who consumed the
most alcohol.
The researchers say, because they did not see a similar protective
effect among tea drinkers, there may be something in coffee other than
just caffeine that helps protect against alcoholic cirrhosis.
This study was supported by a grant from the Kaiser Foundation Research
Institute. Data collection from 1978 to 1985 was supported by a grant
from the Alcoholic Beverage Medical Research Foundation, Baltimore, Md.
The Kaiser Permanente Division of Research conducts, publishes, and
disseminates epidemiologic and health services research to improve the
health and medical care of Kaiser Permanente members and the society at
large. It seeks to understand the determinants of illness and well being
and to improve the quality and cost-effectiveness of health care.
Currently, DOR’s 400-plus staff is working on more than 250
epidemiological and health services research projects.