Drink Coffee: Your Liver Will Thank You

Stop feeling guilty about your guilty pleasure, coffee.

The opposing views on coffee to health have always existed, but a more recent case study has shown a benefit of drinking your morning cup of coffee, specifically for your liver.

A new study done by Dr. Craig Lammert, the lead author of the study as well as a gastroenterologist with the Mayo Clinic, has shown that regular coffee consumption may reduce risk of the contraction of, PSC (primary sclerosing cholangitis). PSC is a rare autoimmune liver disease that can cause destruction to the liver by swelling and obstruction. If undiagnosed or untreated, it may cause biliary cancer, cirrhosis, or liver failure.

The three specific groups that were observed in the study were healthy patients, PSC diagnosed patients, and primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) patients. They were monitored over time with regular coffee consumption, and the results showed that coffee in fact can lower the risk for PSC. However, the study also showed that but the effect on the PBC group was minimal.

The case also illuminated new findings about the further differences between PSC and PBC.

"Moving forward, we can look at what this finding might tell us about the causes of these diseases and how to better treat them," said Konstantinos Lazaridas. The results were presented in May at the Digestive Disease Week 2013 conference.

Recent studies in the Annals of Internal Medicine showed that women who drank two cups of coffee per day were 25 percent less likely to die of heart disease during the study compared to those who didn't. The caffeine in coffee raises the metabolism of drinkers, which can aid in weight loss as well as help you work out!

Bottom line: Sticking to your daily regimen of one or two cups of java is helpful to various areas of your health.