Non-alcoholic beverage consumption and risk of depression: epidemiological evidence from observational studies

• Published in: European journal of clinical nutrition Vol. 72; no. 11; pp. 1506 - 1516
• Main Authors: Kang, Dami, Kim, Youngyo, Je, Youjin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 01.11.2018; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 631/378; 692/499; Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Alcoholic beverages; Beverages; Carbonated Beverages - adverse effects; Child; Clinical Nutrition; Coffee; Consumption; Depression - etiology; Depression - prevention & control; Depressive Disorder - etiology; Depressive Disorder - prevention & control; Dietary Sugars - adverse effects; Epidemiology; Female; Health risk assessment; Humans; Internal Medicine; Male; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Mental depression; Metabolic Diseases; Middle Aged; Observational studies; Physical activity; Public Health; Risk assessment; Smoking; Soft drinks; Systematic review; Tea; Young Adult
• ISSN: 0954-3007; 1476-5640
• DOI: 10.1038/s41430-018-0121-2

Background/objectives Recent epidemiological studies have examined associations between various types of non-alcoholic beverage consumption and risk of depression, but the associations were inconsistent. To provide a quantitative assessment of this association, we performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies. Subjects/methods We searched PubMed and Web of Science databases through February 2017 for eligible studies and examined the reference lists of the retrieved articles. A random-effects model was used to calculate pooled relative risks (RR) with 95% CIs after adjusting for important confounders. Results We identified fifteen observational studies (9 cross-sectional studies; 6 prospective studies) of beverage consumption and depression, including 20,572 cases of depression among 347,691 participants. For coffee and tea consumption, the pooled RRs of depression for the high vs. low categories of consumption were 0.73 (95% CI 0.59–0.90) and 0.71 (95% CI 0.55–0.91), respectively. For soft drinks, however, the pooled RR for the high vs. low category of consumption was 1.36 (95% CI 1.24–1.50). The inverse association with coffee or tea consumption and the positive association with soft drink consumption for risk of depression did not vary by gender, country, high consumption category, and adjustment factors such as alcohol, smoking and physical activity. Conclusions Our findings suggest that high consumption of coffee and tea may reduce the risk of depression, while high consumption of soft drinks may increase the risk of depression. Further well-designed large prospective studies are needed to provide definitive evidence to address the effects of various types of beverages on risk of depression.