Apr 02, 2014 05:23 PM EDT By Jaleesa Baulkman, UniversityHerald Reporter

A cup of coffee not only puts a little pep in your step, but it may also reverse the adverse effects of alcohol, according to a recent study.

Researchers from Singapore found that consuming two or more cups of coffee each day reduces the risk of death from liver cirrhosis by 66 percent, specifically cirrhosis caused by non-viral hepatitis. As with previous studies heavy alcohol use was found to increase risk of death from cirrhosis.

"Prior evidence suggests that coffee may reduce liver damage in patients with chronic liver disease," Woon-Puay Koh, researcher from the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School Singapore and the National University of Singapore, said in a statement. "Our study examined the effects of consuming coffee, alcohol, black tea, green tea, and soft drinks on risk of mortality from cirrhosis."

For the study, researchers recruited 63,275 Chinese subjects between the ages of 45 and 74 living in Singapore. The study participants provided information on diet, lifestyle choices, and medical history during in-person interviews conducted between 1993 and 1998. Patients were followed for an average of nearly 15 years.

During the course of the study, 24 percent, or 14,928, of the participants died. Liver cirrhosis was responsible for 114 of those deaths. The mean age of death was 67 years old.

The researchers' findings indicate that those who drank at least 20 grams of ethanol daily had a greater risk of cirrhosis mortality compared to non-drinker. In contrast, coffee intake was associated with a lower risk of death from cirrhosis, specifically for non-viral hepatitis related cirrhosis. However, coffee intake was not associated with viral hepatitis B related cirrhosis mortality.

"Our study is the first to demonstrate a difference between the effects of coffee on non-viral and viral hepatitis related cirrhosis mortality," Koh said. "Our finding suggests that while the benefit of coffee may be less apparent in the Asian population where chronic viral hepatitis B predominates currently, this is expected to change as the incidence of non-viral hepatitis related cirrhosis is expected to increase in these regions, accompanying the increasing affluence and westernizing lifestyles amongst their younger populations."

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