Nice to see another article on this. My gastroenterologist asked me a few years ago; you drink coffee right? And in my usual joking manner told him you know I am in recovery, and the rumors are true, we drink a lot of coffee at those meetings!
How else could we Know Everything? :)
Although the only thing I have learned around AA is that I really don't know anything. the irony...
But coffee, especially Peet's French or Italian Roast, is life itself.
wendyo said
Mar 22, 2017
Nope never heard that and my gastro told me to drink at least 2 - 3 cups a day as it has benefits to the liver! I was told not to drink it during the interferon tx but not Harvoni. Thank God.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ssoBUb2cJk
Tig said
Mar 21, 2017
Coffee, really? Never heard that warning before. Coffee actually provides a big benefit to liver health. Several studies find it to improve fibrosis and inflammation. Of course I must insert a caveat here, always follow your doctor's orders.
I'm with ya though, no coffee and you might as well swap out my head with a pumpkin, complete with a scary face....
LamontCranston said
Mar 21, 2017
Observer wrote:
I cannot function without coffee, lots and lots of kickass strong coffee.
....
I Agree. Someone I know who was treated with Harvoni, was advised to cut out sugar, fatty foods, and ....Coffee.
Seems like a sentence, not a treatment. Any reason to abstain while being treated with Harvoni, or afterward?
Give me coffee or give me a lobotomy.
Canuck said
Oct 28, 2016
I find it odd (only because I believe, sometimes, like other creatures, we are able to "naturally" crave/seek/and get what it is we need, for what ails us, innate/instinctual-like if you will, or pica-like - you've heard stories I am sure) that for the last years I have slowly come to the state of having trouble finishing a cup of coffee! It is weird, I like coffee, I have drunk it for decades! Brain, nose and habit says I want it, I make it, I sip it, then end up not finishing it, like I am "off it" for some reason!! I came to coffee late in life, cramming for exams, lack of sleep, desperate to stay awake, to be alert, keep the brain on, I noted others relied on and used coffee - never really partaking of it before (crash immersion course - coffee 101), it did not take me long to become a coffee lover for the rest of my life. Not in a big way, but consistently addicted to it, about 3 cups a day, maybe. But right when my liver was at it's height of having enough of the unbeknownst HCV for decades, when my body should be screaming out for the coffee treatment (based on my theory of "natural consumption"), my taste for coffee, declined!!! Not too convenient, or very good timing I'd say, if the "good for your liver" theory about coffee is true!
Very weird how I end up pouring out way more cold coffee, than drinking the hot, then, I make more!! Pavlovian loop. Want it and then don't drink it!
Oh dear! Observer, you must be worried by your AFP, good the scan then (contrast? or what) - you will soon find out it is nothing - don't be scared. What was the AFP level and what did the scan show, or is there no scan feedback yet. I can't remember - have you had CT's before? Lucky you did not waste the effort of showing up a day early (sorry, I was giggling) and that they were able to fit you in, or, it would have been a particularly cruel day and trip, being that you would have had to just turn around and repeat the same caffeine-free purgatory ground hog day, the next day!! Small mercy's. Good grief! - you and Tig are real addicts, or should I say "pro's" - 2 extra-larges!! My! C.
Observer said
Oct 26, 2016
I cannot function without coffee, lots and lots of kickass strong coffee.
I had to get a CT scan last week (elevated tumour maker, AFP, in bloodwork) and the apt. was for 3 in the afternoon. The only restriction was NO coffee which they told me after booking the apt. Well, by 1 o'clock I already had a nasty headache from no coffee. I drove 45 minutes to hospital, found parking, walked all the way to the lab and it turned out, I was a day early.
.
I said "Oh my gawd! I have gone all day without coffee for nothing? I am a fool. I truly can't believe I did that......"
luckily they fit me in and it was pretty quick.
I zoomed to the closest coffee place and ordered and drank 2 extra larges and vowed that if I ever have to get another ctscan, I will make it for early in the morning.(and mark it on my calendar instead of trying to remember in my head.)
Tig said
Oct 25, 2016
The benefits coffee provide seems to be almost immeasurable. I have done my best to keep coffee growers in business! I have always drank large quantities of coffee daily and wonder if it contributed to keeping my fibrosis level in check. Lord knows after 35 years with HCV and my love for beer and Grey Goose, I shouldn't have a functional liver! All that is behind me and the coffee intake continues. Maybe it'll help to reduce the fibrosis, I hope so...
Phoenix17 said
Oct 25, 2016
Very interesting. Guess I will have to increase my coffeei intake! Don't think that will be too hard.
wendyo said
Oct 25, 2016
Nice to see another article on this. My gastroenterologist asked me a few years ago; you drink coffee right? And in my usual joking manner told him you know I am in recovery, and the rumors are true, we drink a lot of coffee at those meetings!
Canuck said
Oct 25, 2016
Medscape Gastroenterology > Johnson on Gastroenterology
COMMENTARY
New Reason Your Patients With HCV Will Say 'Thanks a Latte'
David A. Johnson, MD
October 17, 2016
Hello. I am Dr David Johnson, professor of medicine and chief of gastroenterology at Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, Virginia.
Unfortunately, chronic liver disease is not an uncommon process in this country. We do not have great management strategies for drug modification, particularly as it relates to nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), but there are a variety of these patients who might benefit from the addition of coffee.
A recent meta-analysis of 11 studies[1]looked at the effect of caffeine consumption in patients with chronic hepatitis C. This is a very interesting study that built on animal data, and one which I think is worthy of some discussion with your patients.
There are growing data on [caffeine use in] metabolic-related disease and NAFLD, and [results of this study were] impressive for hepatitis C. The [investigators] did an excellent job of extracting, scoring, and assessing the quality of the studies [comprising the meta-analysis]. Six studies [evaluated] liver enzymes, and five studies used [advanced] hepatic fibrosis as an endpoint. Three studies looked at hepatitis C viral load, and two studies looked at the effects on hepatocellular carcinoma.
All of these studies came back with the same message - that caffeinated brewed coffee reduces risk for these endpoints. Why might that be?
The mechanisms are still not entirely clear, but there are several potentials. There is a potential hepatoprotective effect of caffeine. Caffeine has been known to alter liver signaling pathways and inflammatory pathways. In the fibrotic liver, hepatic stellate cells are activated and function in myofibroblastic differentiation, [which] leads to laying down of collagen and fibrosis. Caffeine not only represses the activation of these myofibroblasts, but also expression of a connective tissue growth factor.[1]The potential for decreased fibrosis in the matrix of the liver suggests that [caffeine] may be particularly helpful.
The effect of caffeine is interesting. A study found that animals pretreated with coffee had reduced hepatic necroinflammation and fibrosis after thioacetamide-induced hepatocellular injury.[2]When they tried to do the same model with nonfiltered coffee, there was no effect on the aggravation of liver injury induced by carbon tetrachloride. It appears to resonate across all of these studies that filtered brewed coffee [has the most effect].
Consistent across all these studies is that brewed caffeinated coffee, and not just caffeine, [is effective]. Green tea, sodas, and what have you seemed not to have the same protective effect as brewed caffeinated coffee.
Coffee has a tremendous number of ingredients. A number of alcohols, potassium, niacin, magnesium, and antioxidants are part and parcel of coffee. We know that when coffee is brewed, there is a reduction of organic compounds, particularly cafestol and kahweol, that can potentially raise serum cholesterol[3]and may actually be associated with increased cardiovascular risk. These get filtered out somewhat with the brewed filtered coffee, which may move toward a better outcome. The amount of brewed caffeinated coffee [needed to be effective] seems to be about three or more cups a day.
When you talk to your patients with any fibrotic liver risk (I have opened this up now to hepatitis C and NAFLD), it is very important not to miss the primary message. Patients with hepatitis C should get treated for their primary disease. Patients with NAFLD should lose weight, control diabetic glycemic index, and control lipids. If patients are drinking and they are an alcoholic, they need to stop drinking. Then they can consider three or more brewed cups of coffee a day.
Always bounce this off the primary care provider as well, to make sure there are no contraindications for the patient. But if they like their coffee, they can really take it up a notch. This is something that may add tremendous value. And again, do not miss the primary message here: It should never be something that would take the place of another therapy.
I guarantee that you will not get a prior authorization request from any of the coffee shops in your area or the grocery stores. Coffee tastes good, and it is something that we are not taking away from patients. This time we are telling them, "Bottoms up." Think about it, and add it to your armamentarium. The data are pretty exciting and extensive. If you like your coffee and your patients like their coffee, they are going to love you when you tell them this.
How else could we Know Everything? :)
Although the only thing I have learned around AA is that I really don't know anything. the irony...
But coffee, especially Peet's French or Italian Roast, is life itself.
Nope never heard that and my gastro told me to drink at least 2 - 3 cups a day as it has benefits to the liver! I was told not to drink it during the interferon tx but not Harvoni. Thank God.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ssoBUb2cJk
Coffee, really? Never heard that warning before. Coffee actually provides a big benefit to liver health. Several studies find it to improve fibrosis and inflammation. Of course I must insert a caveat here, always follow your doctor's orders.
I'm with ya though, no coffee and you might as well swap out my head with a pumpkin, complete with a scary face....
I Agree. Someone I know who was treated with Harvoni, was advised to cut out sugar, fatty foods, and ....Coffee.
Seems like a sentence, not a treatment. Any reason to abstain while being treated with Harvoni, or afterward?
Give me coffee or give me a lobotomy.
I find it odd (only because I believe, sometimes, like other creatures, we are able to "naturally" crave/seek/and get what it is we need, for what ails us, innate/instinctual-like if you will, or pica-like - you've heard stories I am sure) that for the last years I have slowly come to the state of having trouble finishing a cup of coffee! It is weird, I like coffee, I have drunk it for decades! Brain, nose and habit says I want it, I make it, I sip it, then end up not finishing it, like I am "off it" for some reason!! I came to coffee late in life, cramming for exams, lack of sleep, desperate to stay awake, to be alert, keep the brain on, I noted others relied on and used coffee - never really partaking of it before (crash immersion course - coffee 101), it did not take me long to become a coffee lover for the rest of my life. Not in a big way, but consistently addicted to it, about 3 cups a day, maybe. But right when my liver was at it's height of having enough of the unbeknownst HCV for decades, when my body should be screaming out for the coffee treatment (based on my theory of "natural consumption"), my taste for coffee, declined!!! Not too convenient, or very good timing I'd say, if the "good for your liver" theory about coffee is true!
Very weird how I end up pouring out way more cold coffee, than drinking the hot, then, I make more!! Pavlovian loop. Want it and then don't drink it!
Oh dear! Observer, you must be worried by your AFP, good the scan then (contrast? or what) - you will soon find out it is nothing - don't be scared. What was the AFP level and what did the scan show, or is there no scan feedback yet. I can't remember - have you had CT's before? Lucky you did not waste the effort of showing up a day early (sorry, I was giggling) and that they were able to fit you in, or, it would have been a particularly cruel day and trip, being that you would have had to just turn around and repeat the same caffeine-free purgatory ground hog day, the next day!! Small mercy's. Good grief! - you and Tig are real addicts, or should I say "pro's" - 2 extra-larges!! My!
C.
I cannot function without coffee, lots and lots of kickass strong coffee.
I had to get a CT scan last week (elevated tumour maker, AFP, in bloodwork) and the apt. was for 3 in the afternoon. The only restriction was NO coffee which they told me after booking the apt. Well, by 1 o'clock I already had a nasty headache from no coffee. I drove 45 minutes to hospital, found parking, walked all the way to the lab and it turned out, I was a day early.
.
I said "Oh my gawd! I have gone all day without coffee for nothing? I am a fool. I truly can't believe I did that......"
luckily they fit me in and it was pretty quick.
I zoomed to the closest coffee place and ordered and drank 2 extra larges and vowed that if I ever have to get another ctscan, I will make it for early in the morning.(and mark it on my calendar instead of trying to remember in my head.)
The benefits coffee provide seems to be almost immeasurable. I have done my best to keep coffee growers in business! I have always drank large quantities of coffee daily and wonder if it contributed to keeping my fibrosis level in check. Lord knows after 35 years with HCV and my love for beer and Grey Goose, I shouldn't have a functional liver! All that is behind me and the coffee intake continues. Maybe it'll help to reduce the fibrosis, I hope so...
Very interesting. Guess I will have to increase my coffeei intake! Don't think that will be too hard.
Nice to see another article on this. My gastroenterologist asked me a few years ago; you drink coffee right? And in my usual joking manner told him you know I am in recovery, and the rumors are true, we drink a lot of coffee at those meetings!
COMMENTARY
New Reason Your Patients With HCV Will Say 'Thanks a Latte'
David A. Johnson, MD
October 17, 2016
Hello. I am Dr David Johnson, professor of medicine and chief of gastroenterology at Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, Virginia.
Unfortunately, chronic liver disease is not an uncommon process in this country. We do not have great management strategies for drug modification, particularly as it relates to nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), but there are a variety of these patients who might benefit from the addition of coffee.
A recent meta-analysis of 11 studies[1] looked at the effect of caffeine consumption in patients with chronic hepatitis C. This is a very interesting study that built on animal data, and one which I think is worthy of some discussion with your patients.
There are growing data on [caffeine use in] metabolic-related disease and NAFLD, and [results of this study were] impressive for hepatitis C. The [investigators] did an excellent job of extracting, scoring, and assessing the quality of the studies [comprising the meta-analysis]. Six studies [evaluated] liver enzymes, and five studies used [advanced] hepatic fibrosis as an endpoint. Three studies looked at hepatitis C viral load, and two studies looked at the effects on hepatocellular carcinoma.
All of these studies came back with the same message - that caffeinated brewed coffee reduces risk for these endpoints. Why might that be?
The mechanisms are still not entirely clear, but there are several potentials. There is a potential hepatoprotective effect of caffeine. Caffeine has been known to alter liver signaling pathways and inflammatory pathways. In the fibrotic liver, hepatic stellate cells are activated and function in myofibroblastic differentiation, [which] leads to laying down of collagen and fibrosis. Caffeine not only represses the activation of these myofibroblasts, but also expression of a connective tissue growth factor.[1] The potential for decreased fibrosis in the matrix of the liver suggests that [caffeine] may be particularly helpful.
The effect of caffeine is interesting. A study found that animals pretreated with coffee had reduced hepatic necroinflammation and fibrosis after thioacetamide-induced hepatocellular injury.[2] When they tried to do the same model with nonfiltered coffee, there was no effect on the aggravation of liver injury induced by carbon tetrachloride. It appears to resonate across all of these studies that filtered brewed coffee [has the most effect].
Consistent across all these studies is that brewed caffeinated coffee, and not just caffeine, [is effective]. Green tea, sodas, and what have you seemed not to have the same protective effect as brewed caffeinated coffee.
Coffee has a tremendous number of ingredients. A number of alcohols, potassium, niacin, magnesium, and antioxidants are part and parcel of coffee. We know that when coffee is brewed, there is a reduction of organic compounds, particularly cafestol and kahweol, that can potentially raise serum cholesterol[3] and may actually be associated with increased cardiovascular risk. These get filtered out somewhat with the brewed filtered coffee, which may move toward a better outcome. The amount of brewed caffeinated coffee [needed to be effective] seems to be about three or more cups a day.
When you talk to your patients with any fibrotic liver risk (I have opened this up now to hepatitis C and NAFLD), it is very important not to miss the primary message. Patients with hepatitis C should get treated for their primary disease. Patients with NAFLD should lose weight, control diabetic glycemic index, and control lipids. If patients are drinking and they are an alcoholic, they need to stop drinking. Then they can consider three or more brewed cups of coffee a day.
Always bounce this off the primary care provider as well, to make sure there are no contraindications for the patient. But if they like their coffee, they can really take it up a notch. This is something that may add tremendous value. And again, do not miss the primary message here: It should never be something that would take the place of another therapy.
I guarantee that you will not get a prior authorization request from any of the coffee shops in your area or the grocery stores. Coffee tastes good, and it is something that we are not taking away from patients. This time we are telling them, "Bottoms up." Think about it, and add it to your armamentarium. The data are pretty exciting and extensive. If you like your coffee and your patients like their coffee, they are going to love you when you tell them this.
Thank you very much. See you next time.