A new study suggests that drinking coffee can prevent the development of liver cancer.
Researchers from the University of Southern California Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center found that the more a person drinks coffee each day, the lower their risk of hepatocellular carcinoma, the most common type of liver cancer, is for him/her, according to The Huffington Post.
The results were presented at the annual meeting of the American Association of Cancer Research. They are considered preliminary, and have not yet been published in a peer-reviewed journal.
The study began in the 1990s, and researchers obtained information about the coffee drinking and other lifestyles habits of about 180,000 adults, Philly.com reported. The researchers kept tract of the participants for up to 18 years, observing how many have developed hepatocellular carcinoma.
A total of 498 participants have been diagnosed so far.
A dose-dependent relationship was found between the development of the cancer and coffee consumption. Those who drank one to three cups of coffee each day had a 29 percent lower risk of developing the cancer compared to people who drank less than six cups per week. People who drank at least four cups of coffee each day had a 42 percent lower risk, The Huffington Post reported.
This study is not the first to find a link between drinking coffee and reduced cancer risk, Philly.com reported. A review was published last year in the journal Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology that put together the results from 16 different studies, which involved over 3,200 patients. The study concluded that people might be able to cut their risk of liver cancer by up to 50 percent if they drink more than three cups of coffee a day.
One of the experts from the old study gave praise to the current research.
"This is a really well-done study," said Susan Gapstur, vice president of epidemiology for the American Cancer Society. "It adds to the growing body of evidence that coffee might be associated with a lower risk for a number of cancers."
