Contrary to popular belief, black coffee has a protective effect on the liver, provided you drink the right amount.
Too stimulating, bitter, “harmful to the heart”… Coffee often has a bad reputation. However, this drink that we nickname “the little black” has a particularly rich nutritional value for the liver. As long as you drink the right amount and in the right way.
The 3 benefits of coffee on the liver
► Its antioxidants delay liver aging. Thanks to its richness in antioxidants, caffeine has a protective effect for the liver. “Antioxidants contained in coffee (polyphenols) have several benefits for the liver: they help delay the aging of liver cells and clean them of fats, thus reducing inflammation and liver damage, which can be responsible for steatosis or hepatitis” explains Professor Patrick Marcellin, hepatologist at Beaujon hospital.
► Caffeine limits the risk of cirrhosis. Caffeine would limit the appearance of scars in the liver called hepatic fibrosis, the final stage of which is cirrhosis. A study published in the journal Hepatology showed that drinking 3 coffees per day slowed the progression of liver damage. In 2015, a meta-analysis of 16 studies published in PLOS One reported that people who consumed two or more cups per day had a 47% lower risk of developing liver cirrhosis.
► Magnesium protects the liver from NASH. Coffee contains magnesium (an espresso contains around 80mg of magnesium), a mineral that has a protective effect on the liver. And according to several scientific studies, including one published in Public Health Nutrition, a diet rich in magnesium reduces by 30% the risk of suffering from non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NASH or fatty liver), the most common liver disease in the world.
The right amount of coffee to drink per day
Obviously, it’s all a question of quantity. Our liver specialist recommends “two to three cups of unsweetened coffee (and without milk or cream) per day, which is completely sufficient to stimulate the functioning of liver cells“.
Can you drink it if you have liver disease?
“Many of my patients think that they should no longer drink coffee if they have a liver problem. However, recent studies have shown that caffeine stimulates the functioning of liver cells and improves liver health in patients suffering from liver disease, such as NASH for example.wants to restore the hepatologist. Another meta-analysis (18 studies, 2.3 million participants) published in the BMJ Journals pointed to the protective effect of coffee in people who already had liver problems at baseline (cirrhosis), which suggests that coffee is indeed capable of slowing the progression of inflammatory lesions and thus reducing the risk of liver cancer.
