Researchers Discover Drinking Coffee Reduces Risk Of Developing Liver Cancer

Coffee drinkers are half as likely to develop the most common type of liver cancer, researchers have discovered.

Researchers from Queen’s University Belfast looked at almost half a million people, of whom more than three quarters drank coffee.

They were 50 percent less likely to be diagnosed with hepatocellular carcinoma, which makes up nine out of ten cases of liver cancer compared to those who did not drink coffee.

The coffee bean contains polyphenols that may stop cancer cells dividing.

“Our findings are reassuring in suggesting coffee may have health benefits,” said Dr. Una McMenamin, a researcher from the Centre for Public Health at Queen’s University Belfast and co-author of the study.


Further, Lead Author Kim Tu Tran, a postgraduate research student from the Centre for Public Health at Queen’s University Belfast, said that people with a coffee-drinking habit could find keeping that habit going is good for their health.

“Coffee contains antioxidants and caffeine, which may protect against cancer,” she explained.

However, she added that drinking coffee is not as protective against liver cancer as stopping smoking, cutting down on alcohol or losing weight.

The study, presented at the National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) conference in Glasgow, found older, university-educated people, those who drank alcohol and men, in particular, were most likely to drink coffee.

Researchers tracked 365,157 coffee-drinkers and more than 100,000 people who did not drink coffee, over seven and a half years using national cancer records.

In that time 88 people were diagnosed with the most common form of liver cancer, which is rising in England.

The risk was 50 percent lower for coffee-drinkers compared with those who drank no coffee.

That was the case when alcohol, smoking, and obesity were factored in and the risk fell 13 percent for every cup someone drank daily.

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However, most coffee drinkers in Britain use instant, which some experts suspected may carry a higher risk of cancer.

Evidence suggests it has higher levels of acrylamide — a cancer-causing chemical made when beans are roasted.

But the study, which looked at instant, ground and decaf coffee, found the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma was just as low in people who mostly drank instant coffee.

Jars of coffee are thought to contain more cancer-fighting compounds, such as chlorogenic acid, which may prevent harmful inflammation in the body.

In addition, the findings for liver cancer are consistent with the evidence from the World Cancer Research Fund’s report which concluded that there is “probable” evidence to suggest that coffee drinking lowers the risk of liver cancer.

Meanwhile, the Queen’s University researchers also investigated other digestive cancers, such as bowel and stomach, but found no consistent links with coffee drinking.

Source: DM