According to the American Gastroenterological Association, coffee can aid liver health. But only when drunk in large quantities.
A recent study found that people who drank five or more cups daily had a 32 percent lower risk of cirrhosis, a 47 percent lower risk of liver cancer and a 42 percent lower risk of liver-related death than non-coffee drinkers. People who drank a cup or two daily didn’t see the same benefit. It didn’t matter if the coffee was caffeinated or decaf. Caffeine wasn’t what helped the liver; it was coffee itself.
“This study was unique in a couple of different ways. The first of which is its very large population, almost 400,000 individuals that have been followed prospectively, meaning over an extended period of time. And that period of time exceeds 10 years,” said Dr. Nizar Zein, a hepatologist at Cleveland Clinic. He wasn’t involved with the study, but he was impressed with how thorough it was, as it used both MRIs and blood tests.
He said that coffee is not a cure-all and needs to be part of a healthy lifestyle. “If you want to put coffee into perspective, I would say avoidance of alcohol, ultra-processed food, and sugary food on one hand. On the other hand, physical activity, particularly muscle resistance type of exercise, has shown to decrease the degree of liver fat and liver injury, along with taking coffee along the way. So, it’s not by itself a treatment, but it’s part of all the lifestyle modification that one can do to prevent future liver disease.”
"Research consistently links coffee consumption with better liver health and a lower risk of several chronic liver conditions," said Ava Ajlouny, a registered dietitian with Health Loft.
She pointed to other recent research that found a daily cup of coffee can aid liver enzymes and lower the risk of fibrosis and cirrhosis. It can lower your risk of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD, formerly known as fatty liver disease).
Coffee may not be a direct treatment for liver health. But as part of a healthy plan, it can benefit the liver and lower the risk of MASLD and other liver concerns.
