Drinking coffee in moderation is good for the mood — women's, that is

Caffeine can alter (for the better) the chemistry of the brain, especially in women.

It is not clear how, but this is reportedly the first evidence to emerge before researchers at Harvard Medical School, who recently presented a study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine showing that coffee plays an active role in preventing depression.

The study conducted by a Harvard team involved over 50,000 American nurses, monitoring the women's health between 1996 and 2006 through questionnaires that recorded their coffee consumption.

Over the course of the decade, about 2,600 developed depression. Compared with those who drank one cup of caffeinated coffee a week, the volunteers who consumed 2-3 cups a day saw a 15% reduction in the risk of developing depression. Those who drank four or more cups a day lowered the risk by as much as 20%.

According to Bertil Fredholm, a researcher at the Karolinska Institute, the findings "fit well with much previous work on the relationship between caffeine and the brain. Caffeine blocks adenosine, which produces an effect similar to an increase in dopamine production. And it is increasingly evident that the dopamine-rich areas of the brain are far more important than we previously thought in cases of depression".

The researchers say their results add to the weight of other studies that appear to show lower suicide rates among coffee drinkers, although they add that it is certainly too early to start recommending that women drink more coffee to improve their mood.

SOURCE: Agi