Coffee may lower risk of gallstones
Women who are keen coffee drinkers
may be lowering their risk of developing gallstones, report
researchers in the recent issue of Gastroenterology.
The researchers found that women who drank at least four cups
of coffee a day were around 25 per cent less likely to need surgery
for gallstones than non-drinkers were. Decaffeinated coffee however
did not have the same effect.
The researchers from Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts,
write that previous studies have shown that coffee affects several
hepatobiliary processes that are involved in cholesterol lithogenesis.
They have previously shown coffee drinking to lower the risk of
gallstone disease in men.
In a study on more than 80,000 women, aged 34-59 years, who had
no history of gallstone disease, the researchers compiled details
on coffee consumption and cholecystectomy from questionnaires.
After a period of 20 years, 7,811 women reported a cholecystectomy
(removal of the gallbladder). Compared with women who consistently
reported consuming no caffeinated coffee, the relative risks of
this surgery were lower, and the more coffee women consumed, the
lower their risk.
However they also found that women who drank caffeinated soft
drinks appeared to have a higher risk of gallbladder surgery than
those who did not.
"These data suggest that consumption of caffeinated
coffee may play a role in the prevention of symptomatic gallstone
disease in women," concluded the authors.
While the research does not provide conclusive evidence of caffeine's
role on gallbladder health, it seems to suggest that those coffee
drinkers among us need not abstain in order to protect for gallstones.
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