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Coffee may reduce the risk of depression, scientists claim
Last reviewed: 30.06.2025
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Regular caffeinated coffee can reduce the risk of developing depression, according to scientists from the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston (USA).
Michael Lucas and his colleagues studied 50,739 women in the Nurses' Health Study. At the start of the study, which ran from 1996 to 2006, the women were an average of 63 years old, and none had ever thought of depression. The women regularly filled out questionnaires about the amount of caffeine they consumed (including caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee, nonherbal tea, caffeinated soft drinks with sugar and low-calorie, decaffeinated soda, and chocolate).
During the ten-year follow-up, 2,607 cases of depression were registered. The analysis showed that those who drank two to three cups of caffeinated coffee a day were 15% less likely to develop this serious disorder compared to those who allowed themselves one or fewer cups of the drink per week. Those who did not deny themselves four or more cups daily were 20% less likely to develop depression.
However, the researchers failed to find a link between decaffeinated coffee consumption and the risk of depression.
The results of the study were published in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine.
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