Coffee vs. Hepatitis C

Many Hepatitis C patients experience extreme fatigue throughout the course of the disease. And many people in this world are addicted to caffeine. Therefore, most scientists are now telling doctors not to remove their patients from caffeine as is found in coffee. This addiction is relatively harmless in the eyes of most doctors. However, there is increasing evidence that trying to end this addiction "cold turkey", as has been recommended by most doctors for patients who have been afflicted with Hepatitis C, is harmful to a patient's blood pressure and overall health. Instead, coffee should be limited to between two and four cups a day, consumed early in the morning. Most doctors believe that you should have no more than 600mg of caffeine each day, so the number of actual cups of coffee depends on the type of coffee you prefer to drink. The freshness of the coffee beans and the strength of the particular brew can also affect the amount of caffeine in the coffee. In addition, many doctors feel that cutting caffeine from hepatitis c patients cold turkey can be extremely time-consuming. These patients can be so concerned with avoiding the caffeine that they don't concentrate as much on other, more harmful lifestyle issues. These issues, including smoking, doing illegal drugs, and drinking alcohol, should be ceased immediately and require more attention from the patient than the relatively harmless caffeine. For most people, drinking coffee helps to keep them alert and awake. Many Hepatitis C patients experience extreme fatigue throughout the course of the disease. Some doctors are therefore recommending that their hepatitis c patients drink coffee in order to counteract this fatigue without the use of medications that can become harmfully addictive. Recently, though, researchers have begun questioning the need to cease caffeine intake at all in Hepatitis C patients. In fact, studies are beginning to show that the caffeine found in coffee is actually beneficial to these patients. In Hepatitis C, high levels of the serum Alanine Aminotransferase can cause significant liver damage. Recent studies have shown that caffeine found in coffee is reducing the levels of this serum found in patients. One such study was done by researchers at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. This large study showed that the risk of elevated serum levels decreased with each additional cup of coffee. Drinking at least two cups of coffee daily had the highest level of benefit. However, if patients drank no coffee or only decaffeinated coffee, they did not achieve the same results. Why it is proving that coffee and caffeine block the production of this serum is unknown at this time. However, it has been speculated that the caffeine blocks a receptor found in both the brain and the liver. This may help the body become immune to some of the effects of Hepatitis C that cause the increase in this serum. In conclusion, there is currently no scientific evidence that drinking coffee causes problems for people with C type Hepatitis. In fact, the possibility of drinking coffee in moderation being helpful for such patients seems to be increasing.