Coffee Drinking and Serum Gamma-Glutamyltransferase: An Extended Study of Self-Defense Officials of Japan

Honjo, Satoshi; Kono, Suminori; Coleman, Michel P; Shinchi, Koichi; Sakurai, Yutaka; Todoroki, Isao; Umeda, Takashi; Wakabayashi, Kazuo; Imanishi, Koji; Nishikawa, Hiroshi; Ogawa, Shinsaku; Katsurada, Mitsuhiko; Nakagawa, Katsuya; Yoshizawa, Nobuyuki

« Previous Next »Annals of Epidemiology
Volume 9, Issue 5 , Pages 325-331, July 1999

Coffee Drinking and Serum Gamma-Glutamyltransferase:

An Extended Study of Self-Defense Officials of Japan

Satoshi Honjo, MD
- Department of Public Health, National Defense Medical College, Saitama, Japan
- Correspondence to: Dr. S. Honjo, Department of Public Health, National Defense Medical College, 3–2 Namiki, Tokorozawa, Saitama 359–8513, Japan
Suminori Kono, MD
- Department of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan
Michel P Coleman, MD
- Cancer and Public Health Unit, Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK
Koichi Shinchi, MD
- Self-Defense Forces (SDF) Fukuoka Hospital, Fukuoka, Japan
Yutaka Sakurai, MD
- Department of Public Health, National Defense Medical College, Saitama, Japan
Isao Todoroki, MD
- Department of Public Health, National Defense Medical College, Saitama, Japan
Takashi Umeda, MPhysED
- Department of Public Health, National Defense Medical College, Saitama, Japan
Kazuo Wakabayashi, PhD
- Department of Public Health, National Defense Medical College, Saitama, Japan
Koji Imanishi, MD
- Self-Defense Forces (SDF) Fukuoka Hospital, Fukuoka, Japan
Hiroshi Nishikawa, MD
- SDF Kumamoto Hospital, Kumamoto, Japan
Shinsaku Ogawa, MD
- SDF Sapporo Hospital, Hokkaido, Japan
Mitsuhiko Katsurada, MD
- SDF Sapporo Hospital, Hokkaido, Japan
Katsuya Nakagawa, MD
- SDF Central Hospital, Tokyo, Japan
Nobuyuki Yoshizawa, MD
- Department of Public Health, National Defense Medical College, Saitama, Japan

Received 8 September 1998; received in revised form 1 March 1999; accepted 2 April 1999.

Abstract

PURPOSE: To examine the effect of coffee drinking on serum gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT) level in relation to alcohol drinking, smoking, and degree of obesity in middle-aged Japanese men.

METHODS: From 1986 to 1994, a total of 7637 male officials of the Self-Defense Forces of Japan aged 48–59 years received a preretirement health examination. Coffee drinking was ascertained by a self-administered questionnaire, and serum GGT level was measured. After excluding 1360 men with a possible pathologic condition influencing liver enzyme levels and 182 former alcohol drinkers, effect of coffee drinking on serum GGT was examined by a multiple linear regression model and analysis of variance adjusting for alcohol drinking, smoking, and body mass index (BMI).

RESULTS: The adjusted percentage of difference in serum GGT was −4.3 (95% CI = −5.0; −3.5) per cup of coffee. The inverse coffee-GGT relation was most prominent among men drinking ⩾ 30 ml of ethanol and smoking ⩾ 15 cigarettes daily; and positive associations of alcohol and smoking with GGT were attenuated by coffee drinking, more clearly among men with BMI ⩾ 25.00 kg/m². Adjusted percentages of difference in serum GGT were −2.6% (p = 0.0003) per cup of brewed coffee, and −5.1% (p = 0.0001) per cup of instant coffee, independently of each other.

CONCLUSIONS: The present study suggests that coffee consumption may weaken GGT-induction by alcohol, and possibly by smoking. These effect modifications by coffee may differ according to the degree of obesity.

Keywords: Alcohol, Coffee, Epidemiology, Gamma-Glutamyltransferase, Liver, Obesity, Smoking

Abbreviations: GGT = gamma-glutamyltransferase, SDF = Self-Defense Forces, HBsAg = Hepatitis B surface antigen