I’m not a big drinker—unless we’re talking coffee!—but I definitely enjoy a little wine or a pint or two of craft beer now and then, and every once in a while I’ll wake up wishing maybe I hadn’t enjoyed it quite so much.
No judgment. It’s just part of trying to stay healthy for me. I try to watch everything I put into my body but sometimes I’m looking the other way and a little overindulgence slips in when I’m not paying attention. Not the end of the world, but not great either.
But guess what? If I start those mornings-after with a little coffee, scientists say my morning jolt may help erase any damage caused by my evening buzz! They’ve discovered that people who drink a cup of coffee every day have a 22% lower risk of cirrhosis of the liver. That’s amazing because I guess cirrhosis is pretty ugly. It happens when we drink too much or overeat (not just during one night fortunately but over the years). The liver gets hard and stops working, and when that happens, we’re pretty much doomed because there’s nothing doctors can do to reverse the condition.
Except maybe drink coffee! Because the more we drink, the less our odds are of getting cirrhosis. People who have four cups a day have a 65% less chance of contracting the disease. That’s kind of incredible!
It’s not like this gives me permission to go out and go crazy all the time. Because seriously, coffee isn’t really a cure. And anyway--who really wants to torture their body like that? But it does show that coffee is more amazing than we think. It’s not just an uber delicious caffeine delivery system. It’s a pretty serious brew with all kinds of stuff hiding inside it from antioxidants to substances that help inflammation. I guess some of that is somehow good for our livers especially when we haven’t been. Which is good to know. I say make mine a large after a long night out!
