A study published July 1 in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology found that drinking five or more cups of coffee per day was associated with a 47% lower risk of liver cancer and a 42% lower risk of liver-related death. The more coffee a person drank, the greater the potential benefit appeared to be.
The study analyzed 354,957 participants between the ages of 40 and 69 drawn from the UK Biobank. None of the participants had cirrhosis or hepatocellular carcinoma at the start of the study. Researchers tracked how many went on to develop cirrhosis, liver cancer, or liver-related death over time. According to Healthline, the findings show an association between coffee consumption and liver health, not a direct cause-and-effect relationship.
The protective effects appeared at even modest consumption levels. Drinking one to two cups daily was associated with a 20% lower risk of cirrhosis, a 24% lower risk of liver cancer, and a 31% lower risk of liver-related death. At three to four cups daily, those numbers rose to a 35% lower risk of both cirrhosis and liver cancer, and a 41% lower risk of liver-related death. At five or more cups, the liver cancer risk reduction reached 47%.
Adding sugar or other sweeteners to coffee was found to slightly reduce those protective effects. Researchers noted that highly processed coffee creamers and excess sugar remain worth limiting regardless of any coffee-related benefits.
Hyunseok Kim, MD, a transplant hepatologist at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles and the study's first author, described what made the findings stand out. "One of the most exciting aspects of this study is that we were able to connect epidemiologic observations with objective biological evidence," he told Healthline. "We found consistent associations across clinical outcomes, MRI-based liver imaging, and proteomic biomarkers, which strengthens confidence that coffee is linked to healthier liver biology rather than simply healthier lifestyle habits," he said.
Michelle Routhenstein, a preventive cardiology dietitian at Entirely Nourished who was not involved in the study, said the results were not unexpected. "The results from this study are not surprising since we have prior research suggesting coffee's positive role in liver and cardiometabolic health," she said.
Cirrhosis is a condition in which the liver becomes permanently scarred, preventing it from functioning properly. Hepatocellular carcinoma is a primary tumor of the liver. Both conditions were tracked across the full study population over the course of the research period.
