The list of health benefits of healthy organic coffee just keeps growing. Previously we have reported that Drinking Organic Coffee Reduces Prostate Cancer Risk, More Organic Coffee Can Lead to Less Colon Cancer, More Organic Coffee Can Lead to Less Diabetes, and that drinking coffee reduces the risk of depression. Now we see in the scientific news that you apparently can reduce incidence of liver cancer by drinking coffee. This last report, like the ones before, is based on analysis of patient histories. It turns out that daily coffee consumption, typically in the three cup a day range, is related to a lower incidence of several cancers, less depression, and a fifty percent reduction in the incidence of diabetes type II. The evidence that you can reduce incidence of liver cancer by drinking coffee comes what is called a Meta study. Researches took data from several small studies and combined the data. After appropriate statistical analysis, the researchers found an inverse relationship between coffee consumption and liver cancer. This translates to more coffee leads to less liver cancer.
The general consensus of the scientific world is that antioxidants are a main reason if not the main reason for the beneficial health effects of coffee. Organic coffee is not only free of many of the impurities found in regular coffee but contains things that are beneficial to your health. These things include antioxidants. Scientifically an antioxidant is a molecule that inhibits the cell damage and cell death in human cells caused by oxidative breakdown of other molecule in the cell. Oxidation is a factor in sickness and aging. Antioxidants help prevent the damage caused by excessive oxidation and to a degree inhibit the aging process. When an oxidative reaction brought on by disease gets going it produces free radicals that start chain reactions which in turn cause cell and tissue damage. The human body has or uses antioxidants to control this situation. Natural means of controlling oxidation include vitamins C and E as well as glutathione. It is low levels of antioxidants that can lead to a condition referred to as oxidative stress and resultant damage to cells in the body. Organic coffee antioxidants are in the same class of molecules that help reduce oxidation. The fact that one apparently can reduce incidence of liver cancer by drinking coffee is tied to antioxidants in coffee.
How Much Is Enough?
Depending on the study a cup or two of coffee day can produce long term health benefits. However, a recurring theme in the scientific research is that more coffee is better. Drinking four cups of coffee a day instead of one cup commonly is associated with a greater reduction in cancers and diabetes than a single cup a day. The studies that we currently have are retrospective. That means that researchers asked questions of people who came in for yearly checkups. They kept track of illnesses, etc. In the end they compared the data of habits such as drinking coffee, eating meat, exercising daily, smoking, and more with health outcomes. What will come next will be prospective studies. People will be put into groups of high coffee consumption or a pill containing antioxidants one side and no coffee or specific antioxidants on the other. Then, after a number of years the researchers will analyze the data again. In the meantime enjoy your coffee and remember that in all likelihood you can reduce incidence of liver cancer by drinking coffee.