Forskning

October 3, 2013

Drinking coffee burns hepatic fat by inducing lipophagy coupled with mitochondrial β-oxidation

W X Ding et al, 2013, Drinking coffee burns hepatic fat by inducing lipophagy coupled with mitochondrial β-oxidation, Hepatology, Accepted manuscript, online ahead of print.

Coffee is one of the most consumed and popular beverages in the world nowadays. According to the National Coffee Association, more than 60% of American adults drink coffee each day, and an average of 3.1 cups of coffee are consumed by each drinker per day. In spite of its popularity, it has been controversial whether drinking coffee is detrimental or beneficial for human health. While a large body of evidence suggests that drinking coffee may be beneficial for a variety of chronic health conditions including type 2 diabetes, stroke, cancer and all-cause mortality, some other studies suggest that drinking coffee may be a potential hazard for coronary heart disease and may increase mortality in younger drinkers less than 55 years old.  The reasons for the conflicting results from these large population-based studies could be very complex, but one possibility could be due to the remarkable variety of different types of coffee and the preparation and brewing methods around the world. In contrast to the controversy regarding the health effect of coffee on other organs and tissues, all the experimental and population-based studies support unanimous beneficial effects of drinking coffee on the liver. The early evidence of the beneficial effects of coffee on the liver came from epidemiologic studies that revealed a strong association of drinking coffee with decreased serum hepatic enzymes including gamma-glutamyltransferase, aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase in persons with high risk of liver injury such as alcoholic, diabetic and viral infection. Recent epidemiologic studies further support that drinking coffee also reduces the risk for fatty liver, fibrosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. 4, 5