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Clinical question
Can the regular consumption of caffeinated coffee reduce the risk of
symptomatic gallstone disease?
Bottom line
Go out there and buy another cup of java and you'll be less likely to get
gallstones! It has to be the caffeinated kind, however.
Reference
Leitzmann MF, Willett WC, Rimm EB, et al. A prospective study of coffee
consumption and the risk of symptomatic gallstone disease in men. JAMA
1999;281:2106-12.
Study design: Cohort (prospective)
Setting: Population-based
Synopsis
Participating US male health professionals from the Health Professionals
Follow-up Study, a prospective cohort study started in 1986, were given an
131-item food frequency questionnaire. From a total of 46,008 men, aged 40
to 75 years, 1081 subjects reported symptomatic gallstone disease, of whom
885 required cholecystectomy. The adjusted relative risk for men who
regularly drank 2 to 3 cups of regular coffee per day was 0.6 (95% CI, 0.42
- 0.86), and for those who drank 4 or more cups per day the RR was 0.55 (95%
CI, 0.33 - 0.92). The risk of symptomatic disease decreased inversely with
the total amount of caffeine ingested per day. Decaffeinated coffee was not
associated with a decreased risk. Drinking caffeinated tea and soft drinks
also did not cause a statistically significant decrease in symptomatic
disease. Although data was collected by self-report, the authors did
multiple statistical corrections to correct for possible bias.
View Pubmed Abstract
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