If two cups of coffee reduce liver damages how many cups of coffee will heal it? Is any mathematician here?

Emobileclinic Researchers’ corner

Coffee intake has positive influence on management of liver damage (cirrhosis) due to alcohol and unhealthy diet as found in a research published on line by Willey library. Previous studies have shown that coffee has a protective effects which reduces the frequency of abnormal liver function tests, fibrosis, cirrhosis and HCC. Coffee appears to confer a number of protective effects.

Studies also showed that patients with hepatitis C who drank more coffee had lower serum levels of liver enzyme. The researchers collated all these studies to establish the fact that more than 2 cups of coffee daily reduces liver damage associated with alcohol and unhealthy diet.

Cirrhosis is a major cause of disability and death and has a poor prognosis. It is said to be accounted for more than one million death worldwide. ‘Cirrhosis develops by a common mechanistic pathway involving chronic inflammation of the liver, followed by fibrosis, leading to end-stage liver disease (cirrhosis), which can be fatal either due to complications related to portal hypertension (decompensation) or to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)’,said the author of the studies, Dr. Oliver Kennedy from Southampton University in UK.

They analyzed data from nine previously published studies with a total of more than 430,000 participants included 1,990 patients with cirrhosis and found that drinking two additional cups of coffee a day was linked to 44% lower risk of developing liver cirrhosis. The researchers noticed an amazing result with two additional cups of coffee daily. Compared to no coffee drinker. Researchers estimated one cup a day was tied to a 22% lower risk of cirrhosis while two cups per day tie to 44% lower risk and further lower it to 57% for three cups and 65% with four cups.

The question is how much coffee is good for the body? As coffee also have some properties not healthy for people with certain conditions. ‘. Coffee comprises over a thousand compounds, many of which are biologically active and may affect human health. These include caffeine, chlorogenic acid, melanoids and the pentacyclic diterpenes, kahweol and cafestol’ While speaking on this, the researchers said ‘”Coffee is a complex mixture containing hundreds of chemical compounds, and it is unknown which of these is responsible for protecting the liver,” Kennedy said.

On this note, I think until researchers are able to tell us which properties caused this positive influence it is wrong to generalize that coffee reduces liver damages. Samantha Heller, a senior clinical nutritionist at New York University Langone Medical Center in New York who wasn’t involved in the study also have this to say, “unfortunately, although coffee contains compounds that have antioxidant effects and anti-inflammatory properties, drinking a few cups of coffee a day cannot undo the systematic damage that is the result of being overweight or obese, sedentary, excessive alcohol consumption or drastically mitigate an unhealthy diet,”

Simply put, don’t indulge yourself in bad life style thinking coffee will save you. Kennedy also warned, that ‘it’s also not clear exactly how coffee might lead to a healthier liver, or whether the type of beans or brewing method matter’. More researches are still needed to determine all these missing links.

Source

Willey Online Library