The overall goal of World Mental Health Day is to raise awareness of mental health issues around the world and to mobilize efforts to support mental health.
The day offers all stakeholders working on mental health issues the opportunity to talk about their work and what needs to be done to make mental health care a reality for people around the world.
Drinking Coffee May Reduce Depression Risk by Up to One-Third
Harvard University's Dr. Alan Leviton conducted the review and commented: "Evidence shows that coffee drinkers are significantly less likely to be depressed than non-coffee drinkers.
"The positive effect of coffee on mental health appears to be related to its anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidative and microbiome-promoting properties, which are also associated with coffee drinkers' reduced risk of certain cancers and chronic diseases."
The positive effect of coffee on mental health may be related to its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, as well as caffeine's ability to block receptors in people's brains from binding with a chemical that causes fatigue and depressed mood.
The new study, published today (Friday) and involving 300,000 people worldwide, evaluating data from more than 100 meta-analyses and independent peer-reviewed studies over five years, was commissioned by the US National Coffee Association (NCA).
The study comes during National Health Month in the United States as medical professionals around the world warn of the COVID-19 pandemic and the consequent lockdown could create a mental health crisis.
Even before the pandemic, one in five Americans suffered from mental illness. Calls to the US government's mental health crisis hotline rose more than 1,000% in April alone as the coronavirus claimed tens of thousands of lives and tens of millions of jobs.
The greatest mental health benefits come from drinking at least two cups of coffee a day. Among the nearly 10,000 adults in the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, those who drank at least 2 cups of coffee per day had a 32% lower prevalence of depression than those who did not drink coffee.
In a study of 14,000 university students who continued to be followed in Spain, those who drank at least four cups of coffee a day were more than 20% likely to be diagnosed with clinically significant depression.
For detailed information https://www.ncausa.org/Portals/56/PDFs/Communication/20200504_Leviton_white_paper_final.pdf
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