Caffeine in coffee acts as a mild antidepressant that could even be enough to stop someone committing suicide.
Drinking two or more cups of coffee day reduces the risk of suicide by around 45 per cent, say researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health. They think that caffeine boosts mood hormones in the brain, and stops us feeling depressed. But the benefits seem to stop at around three cups, or 400 mg of caffeine a day, they say.
To explore coffee’s benefits, the researchers looked at the lifestyles of 208,424 people over a period of 10 years to 2008. During that time, 277 of the group had committed suicide. Those who drank two to three cups of coffee a day reduced their suicide risk by 45 per cent compared to someone who drank one or fewer cups a day, and those who drank four cups reduced the risk further, to 54 per cent.
However, caffeine’s benefits extend only as far as being a preventative. The researchers didn’t feel caffeine could help someone who was already depressed.
(Source: World Journal of Biological Psychiatry, 2013; doi: 10.3109/15622975.2013.795243).
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