Caffeinated drinks may be good for the liver

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Main Category: Liver Disease / Hepatitis
Also Included In: Nutrition / Diet
Article Date: 19 Aug 2013 - 8:00 PDT Current ratings for:
Caffeinated drinks may be good for the liver

Researchers have discovered that an increased caffeine intake may reduce the risk of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, according to a study published in the journal Hepatology.

A team from the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School (Duke-NUS) and the Duke University School of Medicine used cell culture and mice as models for the effects of caffeine on the liver disease.

The study found that consuming the caffeine equivalent of four cups of coffee or tea a day may prevent and protect against the progression of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in humans.

People with NAFLD have a build up of extra fat in liver cells that is not caused by alcohol - according to the American Liver Foundation, up to a quarter of Americans have the disease, and there is no treatment, only prevention through diet and exercise.

The study's researchers show that caffeine reduces fat content within the liver and "stimulates ß-oxidation in hepatic cells and liver via an autophagy-lysosomal pathway."

Paul Yen, associate professor at Duke NUS, says:

"This is the first detailed study of the mechanism for caffeine action on lipids in liver and the results are very interesting.

Coffee and tea are so commonly consumed and the notion that they may be therapeutic, especially since they have a reputation for being 'bad' for health, is especially enlightening."

Caffeine consumption certainly has developed a reputation for promoting health problems. For example, Medical News Today recently reported that researchers from the US discovered that drinking four or more cups of coffee a day may lead to a risk of early death.

Other research has suggested that consuming around two cups of coffee a day could be linked to urinary incontinence in men.

On health benefits linked to drinking coffee, the present study is not the first to suggest these. Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health say that a lower suicide risk is found in men drinking between 2 and 4 cups of coffee a day.

This latest study, the researchers say, may lead to the development of caffeine-like drugs that have therapeutic effects on the liver, but that do not have the usual side effects related to caffeine.

Additionally, they say these findings may present a starting point for further studies on the full benefits of caffeine in humans.

Written by Honor Whiteman

Copyright: Medical News Today
Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today Visit our liver disease / hepatitis section for the latest news on this subject. Caffeine stimulates hepatic lipid metabolism via autophagy-lysosomal pathway Rohit Sinha, Benjamin Farah, Brijesh Singh, Hepatology, published online 16 August 2013 (doi: 10.1002/hep.26667). Please use one of the following formats to cite this article in your essay, paper or report:

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Whiteman, Honor. "Caffeinated drinks may be good for the liver." Medical News Today. MediLexicon, Intl., 19 Aug. 2013. Web.
19 Aug. 2013. APA

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posted by mackaben on 19 Aug 2013 at 11:00 am

I read a report last week that 4 cups of coffee a day was bad for the body. Now another report says that 4 cups of coffee is good for the liver. Which is it?

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posted by James Michael Howard on 19 Aug 2013 at 8:11 am

Caffeine increases testosterone. Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is characterized by low testosterone. "A low serum total testosterone level was independently associated with NAFLD [A low serum total testosterone level was independently associated with NAFLD]." (BMC Gastroenterol. 2012 Jun 12;12:69) I suggest the findings of Sinha, et al., may be explained by increases in testosterone as a result of caffeinated drinks.

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'Caffeinated drinks may be good for the liver'

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Novel biomarker could potentially lead to early detection of liver fibrosis

Main Category: Liver Disease / Hepatitis
Article Date: 19 Aug 2013 - 0:00 PDT Current ratings for:
Novel biomarker could potentially lead to early detection of liver fibrosis

Chronic liver disease is a leading cause of death in the United States, in part because it often causes the formation of harmful scar tissue - a process known as fibrosis. A study published by Cell Press in the journal Immunity reveals the central role the immune molecule interleukin 33 (IL-33) plays in the formation of liver fibrosis. The findings suggest that drugs targeting this molecule could serve as a new treatment strategy to protect against liver fibrosis.

"Currently, the therapeutic options for liver fibrosis are limited and not curative," says senior study author Stefan Wirtz of Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg. "We identified novel immunological factors that contribute to the development of liver fibrosis, opening up new avenues for the treatment of this serious condition."

Liver fibrosis refers to the accumulation of harmful deposits of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins, and it can eventually lead to organ failure. Past studies have suggested that this kind of damage is associated with abnormal immune responses in the liver, but very little was known about the molecules and cells that contribute to fibrosis.

In the new study, Wirtz and his team found that the amount of IL-33 in the blood was higher than normal in patients with liver disease. Following up on this observation, they discovered that injection of IL-33 into mice caused ECM proteins to build up in the liver, whereas mice that were genetically modified to lack IL-33 were largely protected from fibrosis. The researchers went on to identify the immune networks underlying IL-33's harmful effects and discovered that this molecule activates immune cells called type 2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC2), which had never before been linked to liver disease.

"Our findings reveal IL-33 as a novel biomarker that could potentially lead to early detection of fibrosis in patients, which may be extremely valuable for preventing further damage to the liver," Wirtz says. "Moreover, the study shows that drugs targeting IL-33 or ILC2 responses could be a promising strategy to protect against fibrosis and chronic liver disease."

Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release. Click 'references' tab above for source.
Visit our liver disease / hepatitis section for the latest news on this subject. Please use one of the following formats to cite this article in your essay, paper or report:

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'Novel biomarker could potentially lead to early detection of liver fibrosis'

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Liver function regenerated and survival extended in mice with hepatic failure using human stem cell-derived hepatocytes

Main Category: Liver Disease / Hepatitis
Also Included In: Stem Cell Research
Article Date: 30 Jul 2013 - 0:00 PDT Current ratings for:
Liver function regenerated and survival extended in mice with hepatic failure using human stem cell-derived hepatocytes

Researchers have generated functional hepatocytes from human stem cells, transplanted them into mice with acute liver injury, and shown the ability of these stem-cell derived human liver cells to function normally and increase survival of the treated animals. This promising advance in the development of cell-based therapies to treat liver failure resulting from injury or disease relied on the development of scalable, reproducible methods to produce stem cell-derived hepatocytes in bioreactors, as described in an article in Stem Cells and Development, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free on the Stem Cells and Development website.

Massoud Vosough and coauthors demonstrate a large-scale, integrated manufacturing strategy for generating functional hepatocytes in a single suspension culture grown in a scalable stirred bioreactor. In the article "Generation of Functional Hepatocyte-Like Cells from Human Pluripotent Stem Cells in a Scalable Suspension Culture" the authors describe the method used for scale-up, differentiation of the pluripotent stem cells into liver cells, and characterization and purification of the hepatocytes based on their physiological properties and the expression of liver cell biomarkers.

David C. Hay, MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine, University of Edinburgh, U.K., comments on the importance of Vosough et al.'s contribution to the scientific literature in his editorial in Stem Cells and Development entitled "Rapid and Scalable Human Stem Cell Differentiation: Now in 3D." The researchers "developed a system for mass manufacture of stem cell derived hepatocytes in numbers that would be useful for clinical application," creating possibilities for future "immune matched cell based therapies," says Hay. Such approaches could be used to correct mutated genes in stem cell populations prior to differentiation and transplantation, he adds.

"The elephant in the room for stem cell therapy rarely even acknowledged let alone addressed in the literature is that of scalable production of cells for translational application," says Editor-in-Chief Graham C. Parker, PhD, research professor, Carman and Ann Adams Department of Pediatrics, Wayne State University School of Medicine. "Baharvand's groups' landmark publication not only demonstrates but exquisitely describes the methodology required to scale up stem cell populations for clinical application with a rigor to satisfy necessary manufacturing standards."

Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release. Click 'references' tab above for source.
Visit our liver disease / hepatitis section for the latest news on this subject. Please use one of the following formats to cite this article in your essay, paper or report:

MLA

Liebert, Mary Ann. "Liver function regenerated and survival extended in mice with hepatic failure using human stem cell-derived hepatocytes." Medical News Today. MediLexicon, Intl., 30 Jul. 2013. Web.
30 Jul. 2013. APA

Please note: If no author information is provided, the source is cited instead.

'Liver function regenerated and survival extended in mice with hepatic failure using human stem cell-derived hepatocytes'

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View the original article here