According to a new study, women who drink caffeinated coffee showed a 20% lower risk of depression than non-coffee drinkers.

The study took 50,739 women in 1996 who had no depressive symptoms and had them answer questionnaires through 2006. They were asked to track their caffeine intake and report if they got diagnosed by a physician for depression or they started taking antidepressants. They were also asked to track their weight, use of hormones, and how much they exercised or smoked, along with other depression risk factors and their overall health.

In the decade of follow-up, 2,607 cases of clinical depression were reported. The women who drank coffee on a regular basis showed a 20% lower risk of depression. What’s more, is that the more coffee they drank, the more the risk of depression decreased.

Earlier studies found that the risk of suicide decreased by more amounts the more coffee was drunk, up to six or seven cups. After eight cups, the risk of suicide started increasing.

While an important study because it was the first large-scale one to look at how drinking coffee affected mental health in women, an editor’s noted that accompanied the article’s publication said, “it seems premature to recommend coffee consumption until studies with methodologies better able to determine causality are conducted.”

Coffee, Caffeine, and Risk of Depression Among Women [Archives of Internal Medicine]

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