Coffee Does It Again, Now Shown to Help Hepatitis C Patients

Coffee Does It Again, Now Shown to Help Hepatitis C Patients
By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=John_Schmon]John Schmon 

For coffee lovers the good news continues to pile up, as we continue to discover more and more health benefits from consuming this tasty caffeinated beverage. Increasingly we are discovering that they many organic compounds found in a typical cup of coffee provides the drinker with an amazing array of positive outcomes.

The latest bit of good news comes from a study done by Doctor Neal David Freedman that shows that those who have hepatitis C and who drank three or more cups of coffee per day were three times more likely to respond to therapy with peginterferon alfa-2a plus ribavirin at four time points than were patients who didn't drink coffee.

It was not immediately clear why coffee had this effect on hepatitis C patients who drank coffee, but it seems that heavy consumption of coffee is associated with lower levels of liver enzymes, a reduced progression of chronic liver disease, and a decreased incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma.

Dr. Freedman, who conducted the study, used a food consumption questionnaire to assess the eating and drinking habits of the 885 study participants. A total of 85% of the subjects were coffee drinkers, and 15% of subjects drank three or more cups per day, and consuming more than three cups of coffee a day was defined by the authors of the study as heavy coffee consumption. Those patients in the study who were defined as heavy coffee drinkers were much more likely to able to tolerate the drugs that were being used to treat hepatitis C than those who were not considered to be heavy coffee drinkers. It was also discovered that those participants in the study who drank tea did not enjoy the same improvement as the heavy coffee drinkers that were studied.

Coffee contains more than 1000 compounds so it was impossible for the researchers to discern exactly what it is in coffee that was causing the improved drug response.

So yet again we find that drinking coffee is not something to feel guilty about, the numerous compounds found in coffee seems to impart many benefits, and we are discovering more and more of those benefits every day. As you can see coffee is more than just caffeine, it is a healthy food that you can feel good about drinking every day, so go ahead and indulge yourself, you do not have to feel bad about this harmless habit any more.

John Schmon is an expert on best coffee makers [http://www.thebestcoffeemakerreviews.info] and reviews coffee maker [http://www.thebestcoffeemakerreviews.info].

Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?Coffee-Does-It-Again,-Now-Shown-to-Help-Hepatitis-C-Patients&id=6321680] Coffee Does It Again, Now Shown to Help Hepatitis C Patients