Coffee and caffeine consumption reduce the risk of elevated serum alanine aminotransferase activity in the United States

Abstract

Background & Aims: Based on experimental and epidemiologic studies, we investigated whether coffee and caffeine consumption reduced the risk of elevated alanine aminotransferase (ALT) activity in persons at high risk for liver injury in a national, population-based study. Methods: Participants were 5944 adults in the Third US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1988-1994, with excessive alcohol consumption, viral hepatitis, iron overload, overweight, or impaired glucose metabolism. Liver injury was indicated by abnormal serum ALT activity (>43 U/L). Results: Elevated ALT activity was found in 8.7% of this high-risk population. In unadjusted analysis, lower ALT activity was associated with increasing consumption of coffee (P =. 001) and caffeine (P =. 001). Multivariate logistic regression analyses showed that the risk of elevated ALT activity declined with increasing intake of coffee (P for trend =. 034) and caffeine (P