Apr 11, 2014 11:23 AM EDT By Staff Reporter, UniversityHerald Reporter

Coffee and the caffeine inside it may be the hardest substance to judge. Nearly every day, it makes the news, typically for positive long term effects. Today, for example, the Huffington Post reported coffee's association with a lower risk of liver cancer. Some days, however, coffee is linked with less desirable effects, such as a study from August of 2013 that found four cups per day increases death by any cause in women under 55.

Four cups is an extreme amount few people probably reach. More telling than coffee's long term negative effects, then, are its short term ones. People who drink coffee need it regularly to function at their best. That reliance scares me, and is one of the reasons I strictly monitor my intake (but make sure to keep it in my life for its benefits).

My thoughts on coffee have been ambivalent ever since I overcame my natural distaste for the brown stuff and gave it a shot following a family celebration of my 24^th birthday party. To my surprise, it tasted marvelous. Less surprising was the jumpstart it gave my heart. From taking the occasional 5-hour energy and drinking the old Four Lokos, I've long been aware of my extreme responsiveness to caffeine. Since turning 24, I've relegated coffee-drinking only to special occasions. I've modified that to once per week before writing my weekly Catan journal entries.

The problem (for me) with coffee's long term effects is they usually require at least a few cups per day for many years to achieve. That's the case with the latest liver cancer study from the University of Southern California Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center. The more people drank, the less likely they were at risk for the disease. Study researcher V. Wendy Setiawan, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine at the university, even recommended coffee intake for those at risk for hepatocellular carcinoma, or cancer of the liver.

"Now we can add HCC [hepatocellular carcinoma] to the list of medical ailments, such as Parkinson's disease, type 2 diabetes, and stroke, that may be prevented by coffee intake," Setiawan said in a statement. "Daily coffee consumption should be encouraged in individuals who are at high risk for HCC."

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