Drinking Coffee Linked to Lower Suicide Rates, Reveals A Study

Drinking coffee is linked to lower suicide rates, reveals a study that was published in the World Journal of Biological Psychiatry.

With data collected from three large studies, Health Professionals Follow-Up Study (HPFS), Nurses’ Health Study (NHS) and NHS II, researchers from Harvard analyzed the consumption of coffee, decaffeinated coffee and caffeine based on data collected through food-frequency questionnaires every 4 years. On the other hand, deaths from suicide were analyzed by physician review of death certificates.

Also, the amount of caffeine present in both coffee and non-coffee sources such as chocolate, tea and caffeinated soft drinks was analyzed. However, researchers mentioned that coffee remained the main source of caffeine – amounting to 71% in all three studies.

It must be said that there were 277 deaths by suicide during the study period out of 43,599 men from HPFS, 73820 women in NHS and 91005 women in NHS II.

As for the conclusions drawn from the study, it was found that adults who drank 2-4 cups of coffee had a suicide rate that was lower by 50% compared to those who drank decaffeinated coffee, little or no coffee.

It was also found that there was no difference in suicide rates between people who drank 2 cups of coffee and those who had almost 4 cups a day.

Despite the study’s findings, researchers have not recommended increasing the number of cups of coffee above the 2-4 limit. In fact, they revealed that drinking too much coffee can have adverse effects such as insomnia, restlessness, nervousness, muscle tremors and a quick heartbeat.