Drink alchohol? Drink Coffee!

runnswim@aol.com (Larry W · medicine forum Guru Wannabe Joined: 19 Nov 2005 Posts: 103

In the current issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, there's a very
interesting article by Arthur Klatsky and colleagues from the Kaiser
Permanente Medical Research Program (Oakland, CA).

Basically, the article presents absolutely clear-cut, striking data,
showing that (#1) drinking alcohol is bad for one's liver [no
surprise], but that (#2) drinking coffee protects the liver from
alcohol-iduced liver damage (cirrhosis) [big surprise].

There was a clear-cut, dose response relationship for both alcohol
consumption producing damage (from never drinker to three or greater
drinks per day drinker) and for coffee consumption protecing against
alcohol-induced liver damage (from no coffee to four or greater cups
per day). The more alcohol...the worse. The more coffee at a given
level of alcohol consumtion...the better.

There was absolutely no protective effect associated with tea drinking.

Only with coffee drinking.

Gotta go buy me some stock in Starbucks.

Klatsky, AL, et al. Coffee, cirrhosis, and transaminase enzymes. Arch
Intern Med 166:1190-1195, 2006

- Larry Weisenthal/HB

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