Your favorite morning brew has a surprising new perk.

Good news for the 80 percent of Americans who down an average of 3.2 cups of java a day: Your liver loves it. And because the liver is your body's vital detox center, that's a big health plus. It's not the caffeine. Apparently, it's the antioxidants or other compounds in coffee that keep your liver humming. So if you were just thinking you could do with a cup of joe, go for it.

The liver is a major multitasker. It's a housekeeper: It filters toxins from the blood, cleaning pollutants, alcohol, useless residues, nicotine, and other garbage out of the body. It's also a stock clerk: It keeps extra carbohydrates on hand and releases them when blood sugar levels are low, plus it warehouses fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K for future use. It's a body builder, too: The liver makes proteins to build muscles, and it produces bile, which is needed to digest fat.

Evidence that coffee takes some stress off the liver was discovered when scientists determined that coffee lovers have fewer liver enzymes in their blood than do coffee shunners -- and that's a good thing. Liver enzymes are an indication of liver damage. What's more, coffee's protective effect was even more pronounced in moderate to heavy drinkers, even though alcohol can be particularly taxing on the liver (however, there's no way coffee can make up for the damage that long-term heavy alcohol consumption does to the liver). Ready for a refill?

Know how your other vital organs work? Test your body smarts.

Coffee, cirrhosis, and transaminase enzymes. Klatsky, A. L., Morton, C., Udaltsova, N., Friedman, G. D., Archives of Internal Medicine 2006 Jun 12;166(11):1190-1195.