Another Reason to Pursue Your Coffee Consumption

We already know that drinking coffee on a regular basis has been associated with the prevention of chronic and degenerative diseases including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and liver disease. We can now add a possible reduction in AKI(Acute Kidney Injury) risk to the growing list of health benefits for caffeine."

The findings, published May 5 in the journal Kidney International Reports, show that those who drank any quantity of coffee every day had a 15% lower risk of AKI, with the largest reductions observed in the group that drank two to three cups a day.

AKI symptoms differ depending on the cause and may include: too little urine leaving the body; swelling in the legs and ankles, and around the eyes; fatigue; shortness of breath; confusion; nausea; chest pain; and in severe cases, seizures or coma. The disorder is most commonly seen in hospitalized patients whose kidneys are affected by medical and surgical stress and complications.

Using data from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study, an ongoing survey of cardiovascular disease in four U.S. communities, researchers assessed 14,207 adults recruited between 1987 and 1989 with a median age of 54. Participants were surveyed seven times over a 24-year period as to the number of 8-ounce cups of coffee they consumed per day: zero, one, two to three, or more than three. During the survey period, there were 1,694 cases of acute kidney injury recorded.

Caffeine has been postulated to inhibit the production of molecules that cause chemical imbalances and the use of too much oxygen in the kidneys," says study corresponding author Chirag Parikh, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Division of Nephrology and professor of medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. "Perhaps caffeine helps the kidneys maintain a more stable system.