Coffee, tea, milk, and yoghurt may cut risk of Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Among East-Asian population, ever drinkers (vs never drinkers), and higher alcohol intake are linked to have an increased risk of Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), finds a study, Further higher consumption of coffee, tea, milk, and yoghurt are associated with lower HCC risk.

The study has been published in Hepatology Communications.

Diet has been linked to hepatocellular carcinoma, although whether this is a causative association is unknown. As a result, Yunyang Deng and colleagues designed this study to investigate the potential causal links between eating habits and HCC risk in an East Asian population using Mendelian randomization.

Summary-level genome-wide association studies data for the following six dietary habits were obtained from BioBank Japan: ever/never drinker (n = 165,084), coffee consumption (n = 152,634), tea consumption (n = 152,653), alcohol consumption (n = 58,610), milk consumption (n = 152,965), and yoghurt consumption (n = 152,097). We also acquired information about HCC. As instrumental variables, single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) related with exposures were chosen (IVs). Forever/never drinkers, alcohol intake, and coffee consumption, five, two, and six SNPs were discovered, respectively. One SNP was utilized for tea, milk, and yoghurt consumption. The inverse variance weighted or Wald ratio was used to determine the odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) (for an IV with one SNP).

The key findings of this study were as follow:

1. Alcohol use and ever/never drinkers were both related with an increased risk of HCC.

2. Coffee drinking, on the other hand, was shown to be inversely connected to HCC risk.

3. Similar inverse relationships were seen for tea, milk, and yoghurt intake, with ORs of 0.11, 0.18, and 0.18, respectively (all p 0.001).

"These findings emphasize the significance of maintaining healthy dietary habits in the prevention of HCC. More MR studies with more and stronger SNPs, as well as bigger HCC cases, are required to validate extensively," said the Authors in conclusion

Reference:

Deng, Y., Huang, J., & Wong, M. C. S. (2022). Associations between six dietary habits and risk of hepatocellular carcinoma: A Mendelian randomization study. In Hepatology Communications. Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/hep4.1960