Drink Up! More Coffee May Lower Risk For Liver Cancer

Think drinking coffee is bad for you? Well think again. Researchers have found that drinking more coffee may decrease your risk of liver cancer.

Researchers at the University of Helsinki have found that drinking coffee has been connected with lower blood levels of gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT), which is a liver enzyme involved in the secretion and absorption of bile linked to liver cancer.

Over 60,000 cancer-free Finnish people were studied between 1972 to 2002 and tracked until June 2006. These people completed questionnaires with information about their medical history, diet, lifestyle and income. They were divided into different groups based on how much coffee they drank per day.

After a follow-up period of 19.3 years, 128 participants in the survey were diagnosed with liver cancer, compared to the 60,000 + people that were studied.

Researchers discovered that in the group that drank the most coffee, their risk of developing liver cancer was lower than the other groups. The risk was highest in the group that drank less than two cups of coffee per day.

The reasons as to why this has happened are unclear. Researchers warn that these findings do not prove excessive coffee drinking staves off liver cancer.

Anyone wishing to find out more information about this study can read about it in the July issue of Hepatology.

Source: news.yahoo