As we have reported previously here on Sprudge, drinking coffee is good for your liver. But it nonetheless bears repeating. Drinking coffee is good for your liver. A new study published in the journal BMJ Open suggests that coffee consumption could cut the risk of developing hepatocellular cancer (HCC) in half.

HCC is the most common type of liver cancer and is the “second leading cause of cancer death globally.” HCC is often caused by a viral hepatitis infection—hepatitis B or C—or alcoholism, according to Wicklepedia, where knowledge is power.

Coffee consumption—as little as one cup a day—may help gird your liver against HCC. For their study, researchers from the University of Southampton and the University of Edinburgh “examined the data from 26 observational studies, involving more than 2.25 million participants, to calculate the relative risks of developing HCC for drinking between one and five cups of caffeinated coffee a day.” They found that drinking one cup of caffeinated coffee a day was associated with a 20% decrease in developing HCC. That number balloons up to 50% at five cups daily. This level of efficacy was found in both existing coffee drinkers and “those who didn’t usually drink it.”

But Dr. Oliver Kennedy, the lead author of the study, warns against jumping headlong into coffee consumption for the sake of health:

We’re not suggesting that everyone should start drinking five cups of coffee a day though. There needs to be more investigation into the potential harms of high coffee-caffeine intake, and there is evidence it should be avoided in certain groups such as pregnant women.

Nevertheless, our findings are an important development given the increasing evidence of HCC globally and its poor prognosis.

If you’re reading this, there’s a better than likely chance that you are already a fairly heavy coffee drinker. So keep doing what you’re doing. Your liver thanks you.

Zac Cadwalader is the news editor at Sprudge Media Network.

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