Drinking coffee halves suicide risk
Drinking several cups of coffee daily may reduce the risk of suicide by about 50 per cent, a new Harvard study has found. Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) said caffeine plays an important role on brain chemicals.
“Unlike previous investigations, we were able to assess association of consumption of caffeinated and non-caffeinated beverages, and we identify caffeine as the most likely candidate of any putative protective effect of coffee,” said lead researcher Michel Lucas. The authors reviewed data from three large US studies and found that the risk of suicide for adults who drank two to four cups of caffeinated coffee per day was about half that of those who drank decaffeinated coffee or very little or no coffee. Caffeine not only stimulates the central nervous system but may act as a mild antidepressant by boosting production of certain neurotransmitters in the brain, including serotonin, dopamine, and noradrenaline, researchers said.
This could explain the lower risk of depression among coffee drin-kers that had been found in past epidemiological studies, the said. Caffeine, coffee, and decaffeinated coffee intake was assessed every four years by que-stionnaires.
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