Scientists from the University of Copenhagen and elsewhere found that drinking coffee may help reduce the risk of gallstone disease.
The research was published in the Journal of Internal Medicine and conducted by A. T. Nordestgaard et al.
A gallstone is a hardened deposit that forms within the digestive fluid inside the gallbladder, a small organ located beneath the liver.
Gallstones can vary greatly in size and number and may or may not cause symptoms. People who experience symptoms often need surgery to remove the gallbladder, while gallstones that do not cause symptoms usually do not require treatment.
Coffee has been shown to offer several health benefits. The beverage may boost energy levels, support brain function, help control body weight, and protect liver health.
In this study, the researchers investigated whether drinking coffee is linked to a lower risk of gallstone disease. They tested the hypothesis that high coffee intake could offer protective effects.
In the first step, the team examined whether high coffee intake was associated with a lower risk of gallstone disease in 104,493 people from the general population over an 8-year period.
In the second step, they tested whether two genetic variants near CYP1A1/A2 (rs2472297) and AHR (rs4410790) were associated with higher coffee intake.
In the third step, the researchers assessed whether a genetic score for higher coffee consumption was linked to a lower risk of gallstone disease in 114,220 people, including 7,294 gallstone cases, over 38 years of follow-up.
The team found that people who drank more than six cups of coffee daily had a 23% lower risk of gallstone disease compared to those who did not drink coffee.
The estimated odds ratio for gallstone disease for each additional cup of coffee per day was 0.97, equal to a 3% lower risk. The corresponding genetic odds ratio was 0.89, equal to an 11% lower risk.
Based on these findings, the researchers concluded that high coffee intake is linked to a lower risk of gallstone disease, with genetic evidence supporting a potential causal effect. This suggests that drinking coffee may help reduce the risk of developing gallstone disease.
The study results are consistent with other research showing that frequent coffee consumption is linked to a reduced risk of gallbladder disease.
There is some evidence that coffee triggers the contraction of the gallbladder. Caffeine appears to play a major role, as drinking decaffeinated coffee is not consistently associated with reduced gallbladder disease risk in previous studies.
Researchers also note that coffee may have different effects depending on the stage of gallbladder disease. Increased gallbladder contraction may prevent small crystals from growing into large gallstones in the early stages.
However, if large gallstones are already present, gallbladder contraction may cause pain.
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