Worth knowing about cirrhosis
Cirrhosis, also referred to as ‘hobnail liver’, is a very serious disease. This is the last stage of a long list of liver diseases that have not been treated in time. The condition is incurable, which is why the treatment focuses on the underlying disease and on preventing further progression of the condition. As the liver has many functions in the body, which are necessary for functioning daily, a failure of the liver will cause death. Some of the liver functions include storing energy and converting nutrients, removing toxins and foreign bodies from the blood, producing important components to the immune system and producing bile. In a case of cirrhosis, the liver function is reduced and will eventually fail completely. In the UK, the most frequent cause of cirrhosis is excessive alcohol consumption over many years, but other factors can also trigger it - i.e. obesity, diabetes, autoimmune liver diseases, hepatitis infections, certain hereditary metabolic diseases and an exposure to toxic chemicals or mushroom poisoning.
Coffee may be able to reduce the risk of cirrhosis
An analysis of a number of studies has shown that there is a connection between a coffee intake and a reduced risk of developing cirrhosis. The researchers from University of Southampton in England have collected data from 9 studies, and they have data from approx. 500,000 men and women from 6 different countries. In the analysis, they compared the study subjects’ risk of developing cirrhosis with their daily coffee intake.
Statistics revealed that the more coffee the subjects consumed, the lower the risk of cirrhosis became. It turned out that even a single cup of coffee was associated with a lowered risk, and that 2 additional cups of coffee showed a reduced risk of almost 50 % in terms of developing the disease as well as dying from it. In cirrhosis, the liver tissue is damaged and replaced with scar tissue. This is usually caused by prolonged and constant tissue damage from i.e. viruses, herein hepatitis C, or toxins from alcohol. The researchers explain that coffee has many biologically active substances apart from caffeine - i.e. oxidative and anti-inflammatory substances. Earlier studies have shown that these substances possess the ability to protect the liver against the formation of scar tissue. Scar tissue cannot carry out the same processes as the liver, and thus, the liver gradually loses its ability to perform its important functions.
In addition, lab studies have shown that coffee can also protect against cirrhosis in an indirect way. This is due to coffee containing substances which can block hepatitis B and the C virus, and because an increased coffee intake is associated with a reduced risk of type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes and the mentioned virus infections can also cause cirrhosis.
The risk is significantly reduced compared to other preventive treatment offers
Compared to other drugs, which are currently used to prevent the disease, the risk reductions with coffee should be taken seriously. For instance, cardiovascular diseases are prevented with a treatment of ‘statins’ – a drug that reduces cholesterol in the blood, but it merely reduces the risk with 25 %. Coffee could reduce the risk of cirrhosis with about 44 %. Moreover, coffee has an advantage as many people rarely experience side-effects from it, contrary to many other drugs, which makes it a relatively safe preparation to use.
What now?
Researchers believe that the next step will be to further examine the coffee. The analysis suggests that coffee protects against cirrhosis, and these discoveries can prove to be important to patients with a great risk of developing cirrhosis if they are able to improve their health with coffee. The researchers now need more robust clinical trials to extensively test the advantages and disadvantages associated with coffee. This way, doctors will be able to provide specific recommendations for the patients. (2)
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