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By Jennifer Gibson, PharmD | Editor Shaheen E Lakhan

The smell of coffee can rouse you out of bed; the taste of coffee can warm your soul. And, the caffeine in coffee can lower the risk of depression. In fact, a new study reports that the more coffee one drinks, the lower the risk.

The study, conducted by Harvard University nutritionists and epidemiologists, was recently published in the Archives of Internal Medicine. The researchers followed more than 50,000 women with an average age of 63 years from May 1980 to April 2004 as part of the Nurses’ Health Study. At the beginning of the study, none of the women had a diagnosis of depression. Researchers collected and analyzed self-reported data regarding tea, coffee, soft drink, and chocolate consumption. Over a 10-year period, 2607 of the women developed depression, defined as physician-diagnosed depression or antidepressant use.

The risk of developing depression was 15% lower for women who consumed 2 to 3 cups of coffee per day, compared with women who consumed less than 1 cup a week. For women who consumed 4 or more cups of coffee daily, the risk was 20% lower. This association was only found for caffeinated coffee. No association was found between depression and caffeine from other sources.

This current study does not prove cause and effect, but does suggest that caffeine has a protective effect against depression, according to the researchers. It is well known that coffee boosts mood and improves alertness, but the mechanism underlying the association with depression is not clear.

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http://brainblogger.com/2011/10/20/a-mocha-for-your-mood/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+GNIFBrainBlogger+%28Brain+Blogger%29