New York City, New York - September 26, 2011
Many people get their day started with a couple of cups of coffee. Now a new study finds it may help women lower their chances of getting depressed.
We're a nation of coffee drinkers. More than half of all adults drink coffee every day. But for women, those couple of cups of Joe may do more than give a lift, they may help ward off
depression. Harvard School of Public Health researchers looked at more than
50,000 women, ages 50-70. Women who drank two to three cups of caffeinated coffee a day had a 15-percent decreased risk of depression. If they drank four or
more cups, they were 20-percent less likely to get depressed.
"We don't know exactly how that works, but there could be a biological relationship where caffeine affects chemicals in the brain that are implicated in depression," said Dr. Karestan Koenen with the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.
Depression affects twice as many women as men. One in five women in the U.S. will develop it during their lifetime.
"If there is a protective relationship between caffeinated coffee and
depression it should be explored because it could have a big public health impact," Dr. Koenen said.
Women in the study were moderate coffee drinkers, so most drank less than six cups a day. But doctors warn drinking large amounts of caffienated coffee may have other negative side effects for some people including insomnia, nervousness, restlessness and a fast heartbeat. Researchers did not see any association between decaffeinated coffee and depression. They say these new findings do not prove that caffeinated coffee causes less depression in women, so more studies are needed to confirm the link.
Randall Pinkston - CBS News
