Drinking
tea, fruit juice or soft drinks not found to affect risk of cirrhosis death
New
research reveals that consuming two or more cups of coffee each day reduces the
risk of death from liver cirrhosis by 66%, specifically cirrhosis caused by
non-viral hepatitis. Findings in Hepatology, a journal published by
Wiley on behalf of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases,
show that tea, fruit juice, and soft drink consumption are not linked to
cirrhosis mortality risk. As with previous studies heavy alcohol use was found
to increase risk of death from cirrhosis.
A
2004 report from The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that each year
1.3% of total death worldwide is caused by liver cirrhosis. Previous research
shows that 29 million Europeans have chronic liver disease, with 17,000 deaths
annually attributed to cirrhosis. Further WHO reports state that liver
cirrhosis is the 11th leading cause of death in the U.S.
"Prior
evidence suggests that coffee may reduce liver damage in patients with chronic
liver disease," said lead researcher, Dr. Woon-Puay Koh with Duke-NUS
Graduate Medical School Singapore and the National University of Singapore.
"Our study examined the effects of consuming coffee, alcohol, black tea,
green tea, and soft drinks on risk of mortality from cirrhosis."
This
prospective population-based study, known as The Singapore Chinese Health
Study, recruited 63,275 Chinese subjects between the ages of 45 and 74 living
in Singapore. Participants provided information on diet, lifestyle choices, and
medical history during in-person interviews conducted between 1993 and 1998.
Patients were followed for an average of nearly 15 years, during which time
there were 14,928 deaths (24%); 114 of them died from liver cirrhosis. The mean
age of death was 67 years.
Findings
indicate that those who drank at least 20 g of ethanol daily had a greater risk
of cirrhosis mortality compared to non-drinker. In contrast, coffee intake was
associated with a lower risk of death from cirrhosis, specifically for
non-viral hepatitis related cirrhosis. Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease
(NAFLD), a chronic liver disease related to the metabolic syndrome and more
sedentary affluent lifestyle, likely predominates among the non-viral hepatitis
related cirrhosis group. In fact, subjects who drank two or more cups per day
had a 66% reduction in mortality risk, compared to non-daily coffee drinkers.
However, coffee intake was not associated with viral hepatitis B related
cirrhosis mortality.
"Our
study is the first to demonstrate a difference between the effects of coffee on
non-viral and viral hepatitis related cirrhosis mortality," concludes Dr.
Koh. "This finding resolves the seemingly conflicting results on the
effect of coffee in Western and Asian-based studies of death from liver
cirrhosis. Our finding suggests that while the benefit of coffee may be less
apparent in the Asian population where chronic viral hepatitis B predominates
currently, this is expected to change as the incidence of non-viral hepatitis
related cirrhosis is expected to increase in these regions, accompanying the
increasing affluence and westernizing lifestyles amongst their younger
populations."
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