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2007-8-30 13:45:39 |
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FRIDAY August 3, 2007 (Foodconsumer.org) -- It's no news that drinking coffee is linked to reduced risk of liver cancer. But a new meta-analysis of ten previous studies confirmed that drinking high amounts of coffee regularly may reduce the risk by up to 55 percent. Italian researchers meta-analyzed six case-control and four cohort studies and found that consumption of every one cup of coffee each day was associated with a 23 percent reduction in liver cancer risk in all studies. Francesca Bravi from the Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri in Milan and colleagues reported their study in the August 2007 issue of Hepatology. The analysis was based on 2,260 liver cancer cases from studies conducted in Southern Europe and Japan. Based on the case-ctornol studies, coffee drinkers were 46 percent less likely to have liver cancer. Based on the cohort studies, coffee drinkers were 36 percent less likely to develop liver cancer. For heavy coffee drinkers, the risk reduction was 55 percent whereas for moderate coffee drinkers, the risk reduction was 30 percent. Although previous observational studies are consistent in that drinking coffee is linked with reduced risk of lover cancer, the researchers said "it is difficult to derive a causal inference on the basis of the observational studies alone." Previous studies confirmed some components found in coffee have antimutagenesis properties. Some compounds may act on the enzymes involved in the carcinogenic detoxification process and provide protection against liver cancer. One study conduced by Cavin C and colleagues and published in the August 1998 issue of Carcinogenesis found that coffee-specific diterpenes cafestol and kahweol protect against aflatoxin B1-induced genotoxicity through a dual mechanism. Aflatoxin is believed to be one of the most powerful cancer-causing agents. Another Japanese study published in Basic Life Science. 1990; 52:429-40 also found that coffee has inhibitory effects on chemical carcinogenesis in the liver. Tanaka T and colleagues from Gifu University School of Medicine, Japan did the study in rats and hamsters. Source: F. Bravi, C. Bosetti, A. Tavani, V. Bagnardi, S. Gallus, E. Negri, S. Franceschi, C. La Vecchia, "Coffee Drinking and Hepatocellular Carcinoma Risk: A Meta-Analysis" Hepatology, August 2007, Volume 46, Issue 2, Pages 430 ? 435 ### Copyright 2007 foodconsumer.org All rights reserved. Foodconsumer.org publishes daily news and reports on food and diet, some of which are not available from the mainstream news media. This article can be used by individuals and organizations for not-for-profit purposes without prior express permission from foodconsumer.org on condition that this article including the author and this copyright note should be used in entirety without alteration. |
