Coffee lovers could be halving their risk of liver cancer, researchers have claimed.
A research team from Queen’s University Belfast has found that coffee consumers have a lower risk of the most common type of liver cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).
Dr Úna McMenamin, researcher from the Centre for Public Health at Queen’s University Belfast and co-author of the study, said: “This is one of the first studies to investigate the risk of digestive cancers according to different types of coffee and we found that the risk of HCC was just as low in people who drank mostly instant coffee, the type most commonly drank in the UK.
“We need much more research to determine the possible biological reasons behind this association.”
Over three quarters of participants reported drinking coffee and compared to those who did not drink coffee, drinkers were more likely to be older, male, from less deprived areas and have higher education levels.
They were also more likely to be previous or current smokers, consume higher levels of alcohol, have high cholesterol and were less likely to have chronic conditions such as diabetes, cirrhosis, gallstones, and peptic ulcers compared with non-coffee drinkers.
After taking these factors into account, the researchers found that coffee drinkers were 50% less likely to develop HCC compared to those who did not drink coffee.
