Black coffee protects the liver.

Researchers at the affiliated Hospital of Osaka City University in Japan have found that drinking more than one cup of freshly brewed coffee a day can improve liver function in patients with chronic hepatitis C. the study was published in the December 11, 2013 issue of the American academic journal PLoS one.

The affiliated Hospital of Osaka City University investigated the relationship between the number of ALT enzymes (the number of ALT enzymes increases with the injury of hepatocytes, which is usually used as an indicator of liver function) and the frequency of coffee drinking in 376 patients with chronic hepatitis C at the age of 20 to 80 years. The results showed that most of the patients who drank more than one cup of freshly brewed coffee a day for a year maintained their ALT enzyme levels in the normal range compared with those who did not drink. And the more coffee you drink, the more effective it is to protect the liver. The researchers also found that drinking canned coffee drinks, instant coffee and decaffeinated coffee had no corresponding hepatoprotective effect.