NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Drinking coffee appears to lower the risk of developing liver cancer, according to findings published in the medical journal Gastroenterology.

"Data on potential beneficial effects of coffee on liver function and liver diseases have accrued over the last two decades," Drs. Susanna C. Larsson and Alicja Wolk, from the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, write. Several studies have found an inverse relationship between coffee consumption and liver enzymes levels that indicate a risk of chronic liver disease and cirrhosis.

People attempting to kick the coffee habit may now wonder why they should bother. A spate of new studies seems to find nothing but virtue in the popular drink; in some respects, coffee apparently even leaves fruits and vegetables in the dust.

Scientists at an Austrian lingerie manufacturer have hit upon an easier way to burn off the unsightly fatty deposits all day long: tights impregnated with microcapsules of caffeine.

When coffee first came to Europe from Constantinople in 1615, Viennese priests warned it was "the drink of infidels." The warnings in recent times have come from scientists, pseudo-scientists, and governments.