Effects of coffee, smoking, and alcohol on liver function tests: a comprehensive cross-sectional study.
BACKGROUND
Liver function tests (LFTs) can be affected by many factors and the proposed effects of coffee on LFT require a comprehensive evaluation. The aim of this study was to elucidate whether drinking coffee, smoking, or drinking alcohol have independent effects on LFTs in Korean health-check examinees.


METHODS
We used the responses of 500 health-check examinees, who had participated in a self-administered questionnaire survey about coffee, alcohol drinking, and smoking habits.


RESULTS
Coffee consumption was closely related to male gender, high body mass index (BMI), alcohol drinking, and smoking. On univariable and multivariable analyses, drinking coffee lowered serum levels of total protein, albumin, and aspartate aminotransferases (AST). On multivariable analyses, smoking raised serum γ-glutamyl transferase (GGT) level and decreased serum protein and albumin levels, while alcohol drinking raised GGT level after adjustment for age, gender, regular medication, BMI, coffee and alcohol drinking amounts, and smoking.


CONCLUSIONS
Coffee consumption, smoking, and alcohol drinking affect the individual components of LFT in different ways, and the above 3 habits each have an impact on LFTs. Therefore, their effects on LFTs should be carefully interpreted, and further study on the mechanism of the effects is warranted.
Department of Internal Medicine, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seoul National University College of Medicine, 166 Gumi-ro, Bundang-gu, Seongnam-si, 463-707, Gyeonggi-do, Republic of Korea.
Eun Sun
ES
Jang
Sook-Hyang
SH
Jeong
Sung Ho
SH
Hwang
Hyun Young
HY
Kim
So Yeon
SY
Ahn
Jaebong
J
Lee
Sang Hyub
SH
Lee
Young Soo
YS
Park
Jin Hyeok
JH
Hwang
Jin-Wook
JW
Kim
Nayoung
N
Kim
Dong Ho
DH
Lee
D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000097:blood*; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001219:Aspartate Aminotransferases / Q000097:blood*; D015992:Body Mass Index; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D003069:Coffee; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004326:Drinking; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008111:Liver Function Tests; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D056910:Republic of Korea; D012709:Serum Albumin / Q000378:metabolism*; D012907:Smoking / Q000097:blood*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D005723:gamma-Glutamyltransferase / Q000097:blood*
D003069:Coffee; D012709:Serum Albumin; D005723:gamma-Glutamyltransferase; D001219:Aspartate Aminotransferases