Coffee linked to helping prevent female depression

DRINKING several cups of coffee a day may help to prevent depression in women, a study has shown.

Four or more cups of caffeinated coffee cut the risk of clinical depression by 20% when compared with drinking one or fewer cups per week.

The US researchers say they cannot be sure of a causal link between coffee consumption and avoiding depression. However, they adjusted the results to take account of other risk factors, such as medical conditions, marital status, smoking and activity levels.

They found no such link with decaffeinated coffee or other sources of caffeine, including soft drinks and tea and chocolate.

A “dose response” was also seen, with two to three cups of coffee per day reducing the relative risk of depression by 15%.

The research involved 50,739 women who participated in the Nurses’ Health Study, a major US investigation exploring links between health and lifestyle.

None of the women, with an average age of 63, had a diagnosis of or were on medication for depression at the start of the 10-year study which began in 1996. The findings were reported yesterday in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine.

Scientists led by Dr Michel Lucas, from the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, wrote: “Our results support a possible protective effect of caffeine, mainly from coffee consumption, on risk of depression.

“Further investigations are needed to confirm this finding.”

A previous study from Finland found a reduced risk of suicide with progressively higher levels of coffee consumption.

This association continued until coffee consumption reached eight to 10 or more cups a day, at which point suicide risk increased.

US researcher said the positive effects were known to be dose-dependent but “biphasic”, meaning that higher doses could reverse the “pleasant and stimulating” effect of lower doses.