Caffinated Coffee and Tea Stop Liver Disease

Two new scientific studies show that coffee and tea prevent liver disease and that that the caffine appears to be a key factor in the protection provided.

[A] new study in the December 2005 Gastroenterology. . . showed a protective effect from coffee and tea. People who routinely drank more than two cups of coffee or tea per day faced only half the risk of being hospitalized with cirrhosis and other types of serious liver disease as did people consuming less of these drinks. The data, collected as part of a federal survey of a cross-section of U.S. adults, spanned roughly 20 years and included 9,849 people. . . . [T]he benefits were limited to people at high risk of liver disease. However, with roughly one-third of U.S. adults obese and 7 percent battling diabetes, the at-risk population is anything but small.

Decaffinated coffee and herbal teas do not provide the protection. Consumption of cola and instant coffee was also not shown to be helpful.

Similar, coffee good, cola bad advice applies to high blood pressure.

In other coffee news, while coffee grounds can be used a potting soil to recycle them, it is not particularly beneficial to the plants compared to other potting soils.