Coffee may lower risk of depression in boomer women

Though coffee is well known for giving drinkers a quick boost, results of a new study show that it may also have mental health benefits for female baby boomers. Researchers found that women who drank two to three cups of coffee each day exhibited a 15 percent lower chance of developing depression, My Health News Daily reports.

The study was conducted by scientists from the Harvard School of Public Health, and focused on the coffee drinking habits of women with an average age of 63 over the course of 10 years. Though the results are encouraging, the researchers are quick to point out that the findings can't cure or treat depression, simply that drinking a few cups a day has little to no negative consequences.

"Taken together, these results reassure coffee drinkers that there seem to exist no glaringly deleterious health consequences to coffee consumption," Dr. Seth Berkowitz wrote, according to the website.

The recent findings come soon after a similar study found that drinking two or three cups a day can reduce a person's risk of suffering a stroke. Scientists in Sweden who gathered statistics from eight studies between 1960 and 2011 discovered comprehensive data that suggested those who drank moderate amounts of coffee were 14 percent less likely to experience a stroke because caffeine may protect blood vessels from bad cholesterol, The Daily Mail reports.

Additionally, research in 2010 found that coffee slowed the progression of Alzheimers disease, or prevented the condition altogether, in mice, according to My Health News Daily.

These three studies will likely be well received by millions of people across the globe who have made coffee a part of their daily routine. In the United States, about 80 percent of adults consume caffeine in the form of coffee, according to the websites.