Caffeinated Coffee Reduces Women's Depression Risk

Dose-dependent decrease in depression risk with increasing caffeinated coffee consumption

TUESDAY, Sept. 27 (HealthDay News) -- The risk of depression in U.S. women decreases in a dose-dependent manner with increasing consumption of caffeinated coffee, according to a study published in the Sept. 26 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Michel Lucas, Ph.D., M.P.H., R.D., from the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, and colleagues investigated the correlation between coffee or caffeine consumption and the risk of depression in 50,739 U.S. women (mean age, 63 years) who were free from depression at baseline in 1996. Caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee consumption was individually stratified as one cup or less/week, two to six cups/week, one cup/day, two to three cups/day, and four or more cups/day. Cumulative mean consumption of caffeine, with an applied two-year latency period, was assessed by questionnaires completed by participants from May 1980 through April 2004. The relative risk of clinical depression was assessed. The participants were followed up through June 1, 2006.

The investigators identified 2,607 incident cases of depression during the 10-year follow-up. Compared to women consuming one cup or less of caffeinated coffee per week, the multivariate adjusted relative risk of depression in those consuming two to three cups daily, or four or more cups daily was 0.85 and 0.80, respectively. Of the five caffeine consumption categories, risk of depression was 0.80 for women in the highest (≥550 mg/d) versus those in the lowest (<100 mg/d) consumption categories. Consumption of decaffeinated coffee did not correlate with depression risk.

"In this large longitudinal study, we found that depression risk decreases with increasing caffeinated coffee consumption," the authors write.

Abstract
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