Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Another Cup of Joe, Bartender
ScienceNOW Daily News ^ | 12 June 2006 | Mary Beckman

Posted on 06/12/2006 11:15:24 PM PDT by neverdem

Sometimes two vices are better than one. Drinking large amounts of coffee protects the livers of people who drink large amounts of alcohol, a new study shows. The results partly explain why so many heavy alcohol drinkers escape cirrhosis of the liver, say the authors. The idea that coffee drinking might benefit alcohol users arose more than a decade ago, when cardiologist Arthur Klatsky and colleagues at the Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program in Oakland, California, noticed that fewer heavy drinkers were dying of cirrhosis--scarring that hardens the liver--than expected. A study at the time suggested coffee drinking might be the cause, but it was too small to say to what extent. Other studies since then have suggested that coffee appears to lower the amount of liver damage as measured by liver enzymes in the blood in people who drink alcohol generously. But cirrhosis can also be caused by viruses such as hepatitis C, and the previous analyses could not say whether coffee also protected those people.

To find out, Klatsky and colleagues analyzed data from more than 125,000 individuals in the Kaiser health system who were deemed healthy in initial exams between 1978 to 1985. All of the individuals filled out questionnaires that asked how much coffee, tea, and alcohol they drank. By 2001, 199 had come down with cirrhosis of the liver due to drinking, and 131 had cirrhosis due to other causes. When the researchers compared those who had consumed similar amounts of alcohol, they found that for each cup of coffee consumed per day, individuals were 22% less likely to be hit with alcohol-induced cirrhosis. The heaviest coffee drinkers were 80% less likely to suffer cirrhosis. In addition, boozers who drank the most coffee had significantly lower amounts of liver enzymes in their blood, suggesting something in coffee protects from liver damage. Coffee had no effect on cirrhosis if the damage was not due to alcohol, and no amount of tea drinking helped anyone's liver, indicating that the effect was not due to caffeine. Klatsky says he was surprised at how well coffee worked. The team reports its results today in Archives of Internal Medicine.

"I think it's pretty exciting," says James Everhart of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases in Bethesda, Maryland, who has also studied the connection between coffee and cirrhosis. Klatsky says the best way to avoid alcohol-induced cirrhosis is not to drink more than four cups of coffee a day but rather to cut back on the tipple. Still, "this is another indication that moderate coffee drinking is not harmful," he says.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; News/Current Events; US: California
KEYWORDS: abuse; addiction; alcohol; alcoholism; booze; caffeine; cirrhosis; cocktails; coffee; health; latte; latteland; liver; science
Coffee Science Information Center
1 posted on 06/12/2006 11:15:26 PM PDT by neverdem
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: neverdem

That explains Irish coffee.


2 posted on 06/12/2006 11:19:09 PM PDT by Paleo Conservative
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Paleo Conservative

alcoholism is strong in my family. I have an occasional wine or beer when my wife and i go out to dinner but its not allowed in my house...I have a 15 year old


3 posted on 06/12/2006 11:26:04 PM PDT by sachem longrifle (proud member of the fond Du lac band of the Chippewa people)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: neverdem
Beer is good.

Pizza is good.

Coffee is good.

It's been a good day.

< |:)~

4 posted on 06/12/2006 11:52:27 PM PDT by martin_fierro (< |:)~)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: neverdem

Coffee With Joe!


5 posted on 06/12/2006 11:58:50 PM PDT by Bommer (Attention illegals: Why don't you do the jobs we can't do? Like fix your own countries problems!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: neverdem

Ping


6 posted on 06/13/2006 12:00:54 AM PDT by GOP Poet
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: neverdem
Klatsky says he was surprised at how well coffee worked.

Me too.

7 posted on 06/13/2006 12:02:31 AM PDT by XR7
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

When the researchers compared those who had consumed similar amounts of alcohol, they found that for each cup of coffee consumed per day, individuals were 22% less likely to be hit with alcohol-induced cirrhosis.

Let's see, I drink about ten... so I'm giving cirrhosis to at least one other person.

8 posted on 06/13/2006 12:26:34 AM PDT by D-fendr
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Paleo Conservative
Or Kahlua...
9 posted on 06/13/2006 2:46:08 AM PDT by Solamente (Let all the poisons that lurk in the mud hatch out...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: neverdem
Coffee had no effect on cirrhosis if the damage was not due to alcohol, and no amount of tea drinking helped anyone's liver, indicating that the effect was not due to caffeine.

Would decaf do, then?

10 posted on 06/13/2006 2:49:09 AM PDT by HiTech RedNeck
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: sachem longrifle

I lived with a woman who started to greet me at the door with "Did you have a beer today?"

I would say no, and that was the truth.

It was more like a quart of schnapps!


11 posted on 06/13/2006 2:51:34 AM PDT by Solamente (Let all the poisons that lurk in the mud hatch out...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: neverdem

With over 800 compounds found so far in coffee, it will be some time before you can buy the magic bullet.


12 posted on 06/13/2006 2:56:39 AM PDT by Solamente (Let all the poisons that lurk in the mud hatch out...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: neverdem

Ted Kennedy must drink thousands of gallons of coffee to offset the thousands of gallons of Scotch.


13 posted on 06/13/2006 3:33:51 AM PDT by sgtbono2002
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: neverdem

I guess I will have a coffee chaser after my nightly martini.


14 posted on 06/13/2006 11:20:07 AM PDT by Uncle Hal
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson