A study conducted at the Harvard School of Public Health suggests that coffee consumption may lower the risk of depression. After following 50,000 women throughout 10 years, researchers found that women who drank two to three cups of coffee per day reduced their depression risk by 15 percent and those who drank four or more cups per day reduced their risk by 20 percent. This research supports other studies which suggest that coffee consumption may lower suicide rates.
Researchers believe that caffeine plays a key role in reducing the risk of depression as no links exist between decaffeinated coffee consumption and the risk.
There are limitations to this study, however. Unhappier women may have willingly chosen not to consume coffee, since caffeine is known to cause sleep disturbances and anxiety. Furthermore, this study shows only that there is a correlation between coffee consumption and lowered depression risk. Researchers are therefore reluctant to conclude that drinking coffee could actually reduce depression.
-compiled by Christina Li
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