Drinking Coffee May Cut Risk of Chronic Liver Disease, Study Suggests (theguardian.com) 74
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: From espresso to instant, coffee is part of the daily routine for millions. Now research suggests the brew could be linked to a lower chance of developing or dying from chronic liver disease. Chronic liver disease is a major health problem around the world. According to the British Liver Trust, liver disease is the third leading cause of premature death in the UK, with deaths having risen 400% since 1970. Writing in the journal BMC Public Health, Roderick and colleagues report how they analyzed data from 494,585 participants in the UK Biobank -- a project designed to help unpick the genetic and environmental factors associated with particular conditions. All participants were aged 40 to 69 when they signed up to the project, with 384,818 saying they were coffee drinkers at the outset compared with 109,767 who did not consume the beverage.
The team looked at the liver health of the participants over a median period of almost 11 years, finding 3,600 cases of chronic liver disease, with 301 deaths, and 1,839 cases of simple fatty liver disease. The analysis revealed that after taking into account factors such as body mass index, alcohol consumption, and smoking status, those who drank any amount of coffee, and of any sort, had a 20% lower risk of developing chronic liver disease or fatty liver disease (taken together) than those who did not consume the brew. The coffee drinkers also had a 49% lower risk of dying from chronic liver disease. The team said the magnitude of the effect increased with the amount of coffee consumed, up to about three to four cups a day, "beyond which further increases in consumption provided no additional benefit." A reduction in risk was also found when instant, decaffeinated and ground coffee were considered separately -- although the latter linked to the largest effect.
The team looked at the liver health of the participants over a median period of almost 11 years, finding 3,600 cases of chronic liver disease, with 301 deaths, and 1,839 cases of simple fatty liver disease. The analysis revealed that after taking into account factors such as body mass index, alcohol consumption, and smoking status, those who drank any amount of coffee, and of any sort, had a 20% lower risk of developing chronic liver disease or fatty liver disease (taken together) than those who did not consume the brew. The coffee drinkers also had a 49% lower risk of dying from chronic liver disease. The team said the magnitude of the effect increased with the amount of coffee consumed, up to about three to four cups a day, "beyond which further increases in consumption provided no additional benefit." A reduction in risk was also found when instant, decaffeinated and ground coffee were considered separately -- although the latter linked to the largest effect.
These studies are always (Score:3)
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Twist ending : the coffee drinkers all died before the age that everyone else was getting liver failure.
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hehe. lol. good.
So I searched...
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.go... [nih.gov]
"Conclusions: In this large prospective study, coffee consumption was inversely associated with total and cause-specific mortality. Whether this was a causal or associational finding cannot be determined from our data. (Funded by the Intramural Research Program of the National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics.)."
However: "In age-adjusted models, the risk of death was increased amo
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Like Anyone on /. Needed... (Score:3, Interesting)
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Re:Like Anyone on /. Needed... (Score:5, Insightful)
'The risk reduction for 5 cups each day was generally smaller than for 3 or 4 cups each day, though still protective compared to no coffee, indicating that there is likely a level beyond which increasing coffee consumption confers no further benefit.'
So it was maximized at 3-4 cups and declined a bit after 5, but remained positive.
Side note: Self reported nutritional studies can be so frustrating. My idea of a 'cup of coffee' is not equal to yours. Survey respondents are going to have inconsistent cup sizes, brew strength, and additives.
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Re: Like Anyone on /. Needed... (Score:2)
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Mormons do
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Mormons do
That postulates that Mormons need to live longer and/or that they are at a high risk for liver disease. Both are facts not in evidence.
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In response to your post:
>> Well, they mentioned there was no benefit after 3-4 cups a day. It shouldn't impact us around here.
That is NOT what the article said, The study stated that there is no ADDITIONAL BENEFIT after the fourth cup of coffee consumed daily.
If you follow the link in the article, the supporting study found that four or more cups of coffee daily are correlated with a 50% decline in death from liver disease.
Based on the alcohol consumption of some of us in the Slash Dot community, th
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Upthread, in response to a joke about total deaths being higher for coffee drinkers, I linked two studies showing total mortality for coffee drinkers is significantly lower.
My hypothesis is that coffee originally benefited fewer people but provided a strong enough selective pressure that people who benefit from drinking coffee became a larger proportion of the total population. On the other hand, there have been chimps (Olivier) who liked coffee so it might be a hominid thing.
I hate coffee (Score:2)
Re: I hate coffee (Score:2)
Most important part. (Score:4, Insightful)
“However, it’s important that people improve their liver health not just by drinking coffee,” she said, “but by also cutting down on alcohol and keeping to a healthy weight by exercising and eating well.”
This may be a band-aid on an open wound but it's better to avoid being wounded in the first place.
Re:Most important part. (Score:4, Informative)
Advice to eat well and exercise more fails to result in long term weight loss in 80-90% of the people it is given to, because once the body adapts to being heavier it is hard to make it change its mind.
I can tell you personally that the problem is that people are consuming too much sugar. It's really easy to inadvertently eat too much because food companies love to put it in everything. Don't believe me? Then tell me how much of your peanut butter is actually sugar. Most of the time it exceeds 20% of the content. So the real reason advising people eat well is that they don't realize that the food supply has effectively been poisoned nor do they know by what.
Re: Most important part. (Score:2, Interesting)
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Yep. And lets not forget alcohol is sugar derived. Sugar is very tough on the liver. Did you watch that documentary "super size me"? McDonalds was even the first fast food joint to produce larger straws to double the flow rate of sugary beverages.
It's not sugar in 'sugary' soft drinks, its High Fructose Corn Syrup which is broken down in your liver instead of the rest of your body, just like alcohol. Like a double whammy. If either is going to trash my liver, I'd rather have the alcohol.
And as long as the first presidential caucus is in Iowa, we'll have HFCS in our food and Ethanol in our gasoline.
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Yep. And lets not forget alcohol is sugar derived. Sugar is very tough on the liver. Did you watch that documentary "super size me"? McDonalds was even the first fast food joint to produce larger straws to double the flow rate of sugary beverages.
It's not sugar in 'sugary' soft drinks, its High Fructose Corn Syrup which is broken down in your liver instead of the rest of your body, just like alcohol. Like a double whammy. If either is going to trash my liver, I'd rather have the alcohol.
More generally, it's Fructose -- from any source -- that's metabolized by the liver. You might find this 90min presentation interesting. It describes sugar and fructose metabolism in great detail.
Sugar: The Bitter Truth [youtube.com]
Robert H. Lustig, MD, UCSF Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology, explores the damage caused by sugary foods. He argues that fructose (too much) and fiber (not enough) appear to be cornerstones of the obesity epidemic through their effects on insulin. Recorded on 05/26
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It's trivial to get peanut butter that doesn't have any sugar in it, though. The problem isn't that sugar is in "everything", the problem is people are too dumb to avoid it when they have alternatives. The better peanut butter doesn't even cost more, if you buy it at wally world oddly enough
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Diabetics have to make their own meals because other people don't know there's sugar in foodstuffs like peanut butter or tomato ketchup. Celiacs have similar problems regarding flour. (eg. factory-sliced potatoes)
The problem is, when sugar infiltrated the food supply to make people eat more, the US FDA hired a marketing executive who told everyone that sugar was as harmless as water. The contrary evidence is overwhelming but sugar is still unregulated while the government knows people eat several times th
Re:Most important part. (Score:4, Funny)
Yes, the US health apparatus has done immense damage to public health knowledge. It's quite pathetic really, in this age of unparalleled access to information people still trust this government
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It's trivial to get peanut butter that doesn't have any sugar in it, though.
For some things it is, for others it is not. Ever try to get pizza that doesn't have added sugar? However, you have to know that sugar is the enemy in the first place which most people don't know.
The problem isn't that sugar is in "everything", the problem is people are too dumb to avoid it when they have alternatives.
It's not about being dumb, it's about ignorance. So-called "health foods" are loaded with the stuff. Also, don't tell me they aren't putting it in everything when I have to check which meatballs don't have sugar added to them.
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It's "trivial", but expensive. Sugar is cheaper than peanuts, so no-sugar peanut butter costs more pretty much everywhere that I shop (I refuse to go to Walmart.)
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The GP is correct: Your body will bitch like hell when the food intake drops. It can take two years to adjust.
Yes, the key to weight-loss is to keep all snack and comfort foods out of the house, make your meals, eat less meat, and leave your wallet at home, so one can't buy take-away/snack foods. Also, have daily exercise twice a day, and walking is plenty, although painful on empty stomach: The science for a long time has been reducing intake, not increasing burn-rate.
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Yes, the key to weight-loss is...
There are many elements that are fundamental to weight-loss and some come naturally while others struggle. For me, finding out I was addicted to sugar (and it was by design) was the fundamental factor. I literally went through sugar withdraw after which I had more energy than before and actually wanted to exercise instead of forcing myself to.
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Carbohydrates are just a easy target for companies to inject sugar. It's not the carbohydrates themselves that are the problem but the sugar that are added to them. The only thing I cut out of my diet was sugar (sugar free bread exists) and I lost 70 pounds. Sugar is addictive drug that many people are strung out on and once I recognized I was a victim of this I broke the cycle. Afterward, I had more energy and wanted to exercise instead of merely forcing myself to exercise.
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I think body chemistry has a lot to do with it. Asians have probably the longest history with agricultural carbs and are unaffected while Native Americans the least. I think that has something to do with their obesity issues.
As sugary products have entered the Chinese market, they had a direct and proportional increase in obesity. It's not even a question of what is doing it. There is no "well maybe" about this because it's actually rather basic chemistry. Carbohydrates break down into sugars but they do so at a slower rate than if you directly ingest sugars.
Don't get me wrong, the human body is an insanely complex machine that we don't fully understand but this is one basic tenant that is well understood.
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“However, it’s important that people improve their liver health not just by drinking coffee,” she said, “but by also cutting down on alcohol and keeping to a healthy weight by exercising and eating well.”
This may be a band-aid on an open wound but it's better to avoid being wounded in the first place.
50 % reduction in mortality is not a "band-aid". It's medication, and a good one.
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It is a band-aid because the primary cause of your ailment, obesity, is still going to kill you, just not with liver failure. Heart disease is another ailment that is caused by obesity so it's no surprise it's the number one killer in the US.
So sure, you might live a bit longer but you are still going to die early.
Nice timing (Score:2)
I managed to kick a 40 year old 6-12 cup a day habit to zero last year. Now you say I need to go back to 2-4 cups a day ... while we're at it how many cigarettes should I go back to smoking ?
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-whipslash
Re:Nice timing (Score:4, Informative)
A 20% change is likely to be a measuring error in this kind of study. To get a feel for the margins of error you will typically see in these kinds of studies, here are a bunch of them together [sciencealert.com]. On the x axis, 2 means you have 100% greater chance of getting cancer, and .5 means you have a 50% smaller chance of getting cancer.
That isn't to say the study is useless, but it's better seen as an introductory study on the topic rather than the final word.
Re: Nice timing (Score:2)
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Good point. It might make a difference what you typically add to the coffee. Hopefully they took that into consideration.
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Well, if you live to 120, you'll be back under an average of 4 cups a day and you can start back up.
Interesting, but... (Score:1)
Where do the party lines fall on this?
I can't decide until I know where the Republicans stand.
Re: Interesting, but... (Score:3)
Baristas in Seattle, Portland, and San Francisco are for it.
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Laxative (Score:2, Offtopic)
Coffee may be good for your liver but I've found it's also good for one's digestive tract health. It cleans me out faster than crap through a goose.
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That depends on the size of the "cup". My "cup" of coffee some people call a "pot" of coffee. Some people don't even drink coffee, what they call "coffee" is just dirty water. A useful measure would be pounds of beans per week.
Lower risk of dying from a particular cause (Score:1)
The coffee drinkers also had a 49% lower risk of dying from chronic liver disease.
Not having read the paper, I can only assume they've accounted for general mortality.
But FWIW, shooting yourself in the head with a high-explosive incendiary round reduces the risk of dying from chronic liver disease by more than twice that.
Woo Hoo! (Score:1)
Finally some good news! Gonna crack open that new bottle of Port Askaig 110 tonight, then follow it up with my usual morning coffee chaser!
Drug pushers making up crap (Score:3)
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(It may have helped not to have any the previous 2000+ weeks either.)
Re: Drug pushers making up crap (Score:2)
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To try and sell even more of their drugs. (If you think its not a drug, try not having any for a week)
I don't think my decaf is much of a drug.
(These articles and sometimes even studies are always conflating regular and decaf).
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Then I Shall Live Forever! (Score:2)
And what causes chronic liver disease? (Score:4, Funny)
Irish coffee, here I come!
Re: And what causes chronic liver disease? (Score:2)
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Lucky, then, that I'm not a fan of Spanish Coffee. Grand Marnier and Kahlua are sweeter than your first kiss from a super model.
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The go-to answer is alcohol but ive known people to get it because they took Metformin and continued to consume, IMO, excessive amounts of carbohydrates. Your livers first job is to regulate blood glucose. Over taxing it is, again IMO, as risky as eating peanuts to the extent you develop a good allergy to peanuts. The USDA 300g of carbs per day (stupidly based on a percentage of total calories) recommendation is rather toxic. Your better off consuming no more than half that amount.
The USDA is the underlying cause of this. They pay out huge sums for “scientific” research that will help them sell whatever the agribusiness lobby produces. That is why soya beans, which are basically used to make paint for the automotive industry, with the residue being used to make bacon, and canola which was promoted heavily to the diet food suckers as “low cholesterol”, is an industry. Academics who published papers which affected the price of these “staples” lost t
Obligatory xkcd (Score:3)
So glad to hear this. (Score:2)
for thing in coffee red-wine tea hibiscus cod-liver-oil beta-carotine nicotine thaliomide crude-oil turpentine ptarmigan pstrawberry pyschologists
do
Publish Consuming $thing has health benefits.
Collect clicks
Debunk Consuming $thing has health benefits claim
Collect more clicks.
done
Italians knew it (Score:4, Funny)
That's why italians live longer: they drink lots of espresso and good wine!
But also lots of excellent food. I am convinced that Italian cuisine is the healthiest and most varied in the world.
Greetings from the country of "dolce vita" (which means literally: sweet life).
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That's because you've never lived in Peru. When we're there the potatoes we buy in the market on Sunday were in the ground on Friday, the meat we buy was still eating grass Saturday morning, they yanked the oregano out of their garden on the way that morning. There are dozens of varieties of corn, over 2000 types of potatoes (compis, Huayro, Peruanita, etc.), root crops you've never heard of (olluco, tayacha, ...), fruits that grow nowhere else in the world (paq'ai, massasamba, moquillo,...), dried foods
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Addendum: Italy has it all over Peru in terms of cheese and wine, and Peruvians don't eat mushrooms except in Puno (and only one kind there). Italians have better deserts, but Peruvian chocolate has no equal.