Coffee might be the perfect solution to that 8 a.m. class or midnight cram session in the library. But now, a coffee researcher says a cup of joe goes even further: It offsets alcohol damage to the liver.

"For each cup of coffee, there was about a 20 percent less risk," said Arthur Klatsky, an investigator at California-based Kaiser Permanente, who led a coffee study released this summer.

The study, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, shows coffee to combat cirrhosis of the liver, a disease typically caused by alcoholism.

Klatsky said the more coffee is consumed, the less likely a person is to develop cirrhosis.

Those who saw the greatest decrease in cirrhosis poured four to six cups of coffee each day and decreased their chances of having the disease by 80 percent, Klatsky said.

According to the research, finish your drinks, but wake up with the bean.

In addition to its alcohol-related health benefits, researchers said coffee has boosted its rankings as a healthy drink.

A year and a half ago, Joe Vinson, a chemistry professor at the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania, discovered that coffee contains more antioxidants than he previously thought.

"Before, it was all tea, tea, tea," said Vinson, who has spent the last 10 years researching the levels of antioxidants in other foods. "Normally people haven't been thinking of coffee as particularly healthy."

Antioxidants, which also appear in berries and dark chocolate, kill free radicals in the body that are linked to diabetes.

However, others have not been so quick to jump on the coffee bandwagon, pointing out that just as many negative effects exist, and preliminary studies can't be used to draw any lasting conclusions.

Yet, as more medical research probes into the mystery behind coffee, nutrition experts said one axiom holds — don't overindulge.

"Really, it is about balance and moderation," said Ronda Bokram, a nutritionist at the Olin Health Center's Health Education Services department.

But the researchers said coffee is not without flaws.

"These effects fall on both sides of the coin," said Norman Hord, an associate food science and human nutrition professor.

Not only is the caffeine in coffee addictive, it could also raise blood pressure, Hord said.

Shots of espresso or coffee that is unfiltered also have adverse effects on the body.

"Espresso-based drinks would have the compounds that are known to raise your cholesterol level," Hord said.

Right now, it is too early for the new findings to make health organizations recommend daily coffee allowances, he added.

"We're not at the place we can see anything yet," Hord said of conflicting studies that debate coffee's health benefits. "The evidence is building (that) there might be health benefits that no one had anticipated."

But, Hord said, "We've still got a long way to go."

For some coffee-lovers, it is insignificant whether a cup of steaming java helps or hurts.

"I don't really care either way," said LCC student Andrea Hidalgo when told about the alcohol-related study. "As long as they don't say it'll kill you if you drink one more cup, I'll still drink it."

Other coffee drinkers were more impressed by the news.

"That's definitely a surprise," said Jessica Belen, who began drinking coffee when working at Beaner's Gourmet Coffee in the Union.

"That's just an added plus."

For mathematics education junior Matt Cramton, the positive coffee news contradicted old memories of his parents warning him that it would stunt his growth as a teenager.

Now, he drinks four to six cups a day.

Still, Cramton said he would not drink more or less coffee depending on health findings.

"I just keep trucking," he said.