Higher consumption of coffee correlates with a significant decrease in the risk of liver cancer or hepatocellular carcinoma.
In the methodology, a systematic review and meta-analysis was performed on original articles, published in English from 1996 to June 2019, that linked coffee consumption with liver cancer or hepatocellular carcinoma. Numerous databases, including PubMed/MEDLINE/EMBASE/Ovid/Google Scholar, were searched for relevant case-control, cohort or prospective studies. The Relative Risk (RR) for these conditions was calculated for coffee drinking, further stratified by the increments of one cup of coffee per day. The final analysis involved 20 studies, analysed using random effects models, with heterogeneity between studies calculated by Cochrane Q and the I2 statistics.
The results indicated that the overall Relative Risk (RR) displayed significant heterogeneity among the studies. A subgroup analysis was performed to evaluate the impact of additional coffee intake, and it was discerned that higher coffee consumption was associated with a substantial drop in the risk of developing hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC) or liver cancer. Additionally, there was no indication of significant publication bias observed in the funnel plot.
