NEW STUDY : WOMEN COFFEE DRINKERS HAVE MORE PERMANENT PICK-ME-UP

Researchers from Harvard University found that women who consumed two to three cups of caffeinated joe per day had a 15 percent lower risk of depression than non-coffee drinkers, while those who drank four-plus cups daily had a 20 percent lower risk. In general, women are more likely than men to be diagnosed with depression.

PUT ON ANOTHER POT!

Catherine Pearson writing for the Huffington Post reported the news in her story "Coffee Cuts Depression Risk In Women, New Study Shows"

 "Our results support a possible protective effect of caffeine, mainly from coffee consumption, on risk of depression," the Harvard researchers wrote Monday in the Archives of Internal Medicine. The researchers followed more than 50,000 participants in the Nurses Health Study -- one of the largest women's health studies in the U.S -- for 10 years.

But the study's authors cautioned that their results must be replicated before it's possible to draw any firm conclusions about caffeine and depression risk -- particularly in terms of any causal mechanisms that might be at play.

I suppose they need a short rest and a few more pots of coffee before gear ing up to follow around another 50,000 particpants.

"Caffeine is known to affect the brain," study co-author Dr. Albert Ascherio, a professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health, offered as one possible explanation. "It modulates the release of mood transmitters." He pointed out that previous studies have shown a link between coffee and decreased suicide risk, though as the National Institute of Health points out, caffeine may cause or worsen anxiety issues.

"I'm not saying we're on the path to discovering a new way to prevent depression," he said. "But I think you can be reassured that if you are drinking coffee, it is coming out as a positive thing."

  Coffee Cuts Depression Risk In Women, New Study Shows by Catherine Pearson.