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Drinking two cups of coffee a day could reduce your chances of developing liver cirrhosis by as much as 44%, researchers at Southampton University say as cited by The Telegraph.

The research team studied data from nine earlier studies involving 430,000 participants, 1,990 of who had cirrhosis. In eight of the studies analyzed, increasing coffee consumption by two cups a day was associated with a significantly reduced risk of cirrhosis. Moreover, the risk continued to decline as more coffee was consumed.

One cup a day could lower the risk of cirrhosis by 22%, researchers found, while two cups reduced the risk by 43%, three cups by 57%, and four cups by 65%, the article reads.

According to the information, more than a million people die from cirrhosis each year worldwide. It can be caused by excessive alcohol consumption, immune disorders, hepatitis and fatty liver disease.

“Cirrhosis is potentially fatal and there is no cure as such. Therefore, it is significant that the risk of developing cirrhosis may be reduced by consumption of coffee, a cheap, ubiquitous and well-tolerated beverage,” lead study author Dr. Oliver Kennedy said.

However, he cautioned that it is not currently clear exactly how coffee benefits liver health. “Coffee is a complex mixture containing hundreds of chemical compounds, and it is unknown which of these is responsible for protecting the liver,” he said as cited by The Telegraph.

It is also probably a bad idea to start drinking large amounts of coffee for the benefit of your health, the newspaper summarized.