Drinking two or more cups of coffee a day could help combat liver disease, researchers believe.
Fatty liver disease is often associated with boozing too much. It is the fifth ‘big killer’ in England and Wales after heart, cancer, stroke and respiratory disease.
Dr Hodge and a team of researchers from Monash University in Australia studied 1,100 patients with health issues such as hepatitis C, hepatitis B or fatty liver disease.
They found that drinking three cups of coffee each day had a positive effect on patients' liver health.
The results were most evident in patients with hepatitis C, whose liver damage was reduced by up to 13%.
Dr Alex Hodge, a consultant gastroenterologist and liver disease specialist at Monash Health, a unit of Australia's Monash University, told The Age: "Certainly moderate amounts of coffee, depending on the liver disease you're looking at, seem to be associated with less liver damage and probably less liver fat, as well."
"The most striking results were found in patients with hepatitis C.
"Two or more cups of coffee led to an improvement in their liver disease."
A previous study found drinking three to five cups of coffee per day could reduce risk of premature death from serious illnesses.
Researchers suggest that moderate coffee consumption could reduce the risk of a whole host of health conditions including heart disease, Type 2 diabetes and neurological conditions such as Parkinson's disease.