In a new study from Norway published in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology , both coffee consumption and cigarette smoking are shown to potentially protect against primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC). This is a chronic liver disease caused by chronic inflammation of the bile ducts.

The findings are of great interest against a backdrop of increasing knowledge on coffee as a possible protective agent in other liver diseases.

The cross-sectional study was conducted by researchers at the Norwegian PSC Research Center based at Oslo University Hospital and the University of Oslo.

The study was conducted using a questionnaire about environmental exposures, and included 240 PSC patients and 245 controls.

Coffee

The study shows showed that the PSC patients had lower coffee consumption both currently and in the early adulthood, suggesting that coffee consumption could protect against the development of the disease. PSC patients who drank coffee, however, had lower levels of liver enzymes in the blood, thus suggesting a beneficial effect in the liver.

Cigarettes

Regarding cigarette smoking, only 20% of the patients reported ever daily cigarette smoking, compared with 43% of the healthy controls. In addition, cigarette smokers acquired the disease on average 10 years later than non-smokers. Taken together, these observations confirm and strengthen previous observations of smoking as a possible protective factor in PSC.

About PSC

While PSC is not a common disease, it is a severe condition affecting mostly young adults (30-40 years), and with a high risk of associated cancer of the bile ducts.

Few treatment options are available and PSC is one of the most important reasons for liver transplantation. While the possible protective effect of smoking against PSC seems rather unique to this particular liver disease, coffee consumption has been shown to protect against multiple other liver conditions including liver cirrhosis and liver cancer -- and now for the first time also against PSC.