Thread: "Coffee may prevent depression, scientists say" BBC News

Coffee may prevent depression, scientists say
By Michelle Roberts
Health reporter, BBC News
27 September 2011 Last updated at 00:59

Women who drink two or more cups of coffee a day are less likely to get depressed, research suggests.

It is not clear why it might have this effect, but the authors believe caffeine in coffee may alter the brain's chemistry. Decaffeinated coffee did not have the same effect.

The findings, published in Archives of Internal Medicine, come from a study of more than 50,000 US female nurses.

The experts are now recommending more work to better understand the link.

...

Prof Bertil Fredholm, an expert in pharmacology and physiology at Sweden's Karolinska Institute, said the findings were reassuring for coffee-lovers.

"This fits nicely with a lot of the previous work and what we know about caffeine and the brain. It blocks adenosine, which produces a similar effect to increasing dopamine production. And it's becoming increasingly clear that the dopamine-rich areas of the brain are much more important in depression that previously thought.

"Despite valiant efforts to show how dangerous coffee is for us, it is not proving so.

"This removes yet another anxiety regarding caffeine use. Drunk in moderation, the evidence is strong that it is not one of the things we do that is going to damage your health."

Full story at BBC News - Coffee may prevent depression, scientists say

I'm posting this because while some people do report feeling much better when they cut out caffeine, the common consensus of coffee as "bad" (while green tea is usually "good") is looking less and less scientifically sound, so giving it up out of a misguided puritanism... well, maybe one to re-think.

hmm with my 6 cups a day plus 150mg of sertraline I should be