One Life Brief

July 2006
 
Recent New Reports Indicate Coffee May Counteract Damage to Liver From Alcohol . . . but is this good research?  
A current One client inquired about a recent report that made headlines across the country and may have many thinking that a few more cups of coffee will counteract any negative effects that alcohol might have on the liver. Here is the inquiry:

"My son just sent me a copy of the recent article (6/13/06) from a study at Kaiser Permanente regarding the supposedly positive effects of coffee in preventing cirrhosis of the liver - you may have seen it.  Now, I’m not personally concerned about getting cirrhosis but I wonder, is this really good research?”

The study suggests that coffee consumption is associated with a reduced risk of alcoholic cirrhosis.  I found the study interesting and they used enough people (125,000) to make it notable.  However, it is just an “observational study” using medical records indicating alcohol and coffee habits initially and then following these people’s medical records with death and hospitalizations as end points.  The observational nature of the data limits any attempt to establish a causal link. 

This was not a “prospective double blind case and control group” type of study that can really pinpoint cause and effect.  Observational studies just show associations.  Maybe people who metabolize caffeine rapidly also metabolize alcohol rapidly and therefore can tolerate more alcohol and more caffeine, but that doesn’t mean the caffeine protects them.  So for now, until more research is done, I would second the advice of the study’s co-author, Dr. Arthur Klatsky, who stated that, for those at risk, the better way to avoid cirrhosis of the liver is “not to drink a lot of coffee but to cut down on alcohol consumption.”  And that is a suggestion that many in the medical community can agree upon.

- Heather Peña, M.D., Medical Director, St. Helena Center for Health