Coffee Consumption May Protect Liver from Alcohol

OAKLAND, Calif. June 12 ? Coffee may help protect the livers of heavy alcohol drinkers.

In a cohort study of Kaiser Permanente members, drinking one to three cups of coffee a day was associated with a 40% decrease in the risk of alcoholic cirrhosis versus drinking less than one cup (P

Among the findings:

• Coffee drinking was positively correlated with smoking and alcohol drinking.
• As expected mean blood levels of AST and ALT increased as alcohol consumption increased.
• In a cross-sectional analysis coffee drinking was inversely related to AST and ALT levels, people who drank four or more cups of coffee daily reduced the risk of elevated AST by 50% (95% CI, 0.4-0.6; P