Coffee, a life-saving artifact of the modern age, is one of the most popular beverages in the world.
Because it contains a large amount of caffeine, it is often drunk by people to wake up and improve work efficiency.
Past research has shown that regular coffee consumption can provide multiple health benefits.
Diabetes is a common metabolic disease that is closely associated with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), and people with NAFLD have a higher risk of liver fibrosis and cirrhosis.
Earlier studies have shown a negative relationship between caffeine intake and liver fibrosis and cirrhosis.
The relationship between caffeine intake and liver fibrosis at different glucose levels is unclear.
Researchers at the Zhongda Hospital affiliated to Southeast University published an article entitled “Caffeine intake associated with a lower risk of liver” in the Journal of Advanced Research “fibrosis in different glucose status”.
Studies have shown that drinking coffee can protect the liver regardless of blood sugar status, and caffeine intake ≥78 mg per day is significantly associated with a reduced risk of liver fibrosis, especially in people with diabetes.
Tips: This article is about caffeine, a 240 ml cup of Americano contains about 90-120 mg of caffeine.
For the study, researchers analyzed 23,711 adult participants in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) database, who were divided by blood sugar status into:
With type 2 diabetes, pre-diabetes, and no diabetes, the risk of liver fibrosis was assessed by FIB-4, and the association between caffeine intake and the risk of liver fibrosis was analyzed in people with different glycemic status.
Of the participants, 14,519 were in the non-diabetic group, 4,490 were in the pre-diabetic group, and 4,702 were in the diabetic group, with average ages of 62, 53, and 47, respectively.
The analysis found that the proportion of people at high risk for liver fibrosis was significantly higher in the diabetic group than in the pre-diabetic and non-diabetic groups, suggesting that people with type 2 diabetes need to pay more attention to liver health.
Analysis of caffeine intake found that in all populations, caffeine intake ≥78 mg per day was associated with a 29.3% reduction in the odds of a high-risk state of liver fibrosis, compared with caffeine intake less than 78 mg per day.
Analysis by blood glucose status found that intake of ≥78 mg of caffeine per day, regardless of blood glucose status, was significantly associated with a lower risk of liver fibrosis.
Specifically, in the non-diabetic, pre-diabetic, and diabetic groups, caffeine intake ≥78 mg per day was associated with a 30.2 percent, 44.7 percent, and 28 percent reduction in the risk of liver fibrosis status, respectively.
Furthermore, in the diabetic group, caffeine consumption ≥78 mg per day was associated with a 16% lower risk of liver fibrosis, suggesting that caffeine consumption could reduce the risk of liver fibrosis in diabetic patients.
As for the underlying mechanism, the study notes that caffeine is thought to inhibit the production of collagen, a major component of liver fibrosis, through adenosine A2a receptors, thereby helping to mitigate the progression of liver fibrosis.
In people with type 2 diabetes, caffeine consumption was more significantly associated with a reduced risk of liver fibrosis, possibly because caffeine can indirectly reduce the risk of liver fibrosis by improving metabolic markers.
Still, the researchers stress that this is a cross-sectional study, so it is not possible to confirm cause and effect.
In January 2025, Researchers at Shuguang Hospital affiliated to Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine published a paper entitled “Caffeine Ameliorates Metabolic-Associated Steatohepatitis by Rescuing” in the journal Redox Biology Hepatic Dusp9 “research paper.
Studies have shown that coffee can protect the liver and has a variety of beneficial effects, including improving liver steatosis, liver inflammation and fibrosis.
From a mechanistic point of view, caffeine directly binds to bisspecific phosphatase 9 (Dusp9) to restore the inhibited Dusp9 protein expression in MASH, thereby reversing the disorder of glycolipid metabolism, liver inflammation and fibrosis, suggesting that Dusp9 is a key target for caffeine treatment of MASH.
Researchers from Mahidon University published a paper in the journal Frontiers in pharmacology entitled “Coffee Consumption and Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease: An Umbrella Review and a Systematic Review and Meta-analysis “.
The study showed that in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, coffee intake was significantly associated with a reduction in liver fibrosis, with a 33% reduction in liver fibrosis among those who drank coffee.
The findings support a protective effect of caffeine intake on liver fibrosis, particularly in people with type 2 diabetes.
References:
- 1, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jare.2025.02.004
- 2, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.redox.2025.103499
- 3, https://doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2021.786596
