Suicide Prevention with Java

My friends and family always remark that I am a very dedicated coffee drinker.  According to findings from researchers, it appears I may die of many things, but it probably won’t be suicide.  Yes, it appears that drinking coffee is responsible for lowering suicide rates.  Who knew?  I hope suicide hotlines are aware of this valuable information.

“I’m feeling suicidal what should I do?”

“Drink a cup of coffee and call me later.”

“I don’t like coffee.  Will diet soda help me?”

“Sorry, it’s got to be java.  I know we could discuss what brought you to this point and work through it, but drinking a cup of coffee is just easier.”

“Oh.”

Here are some excerpts from the article in bold and my insightful opinions are below.

Drinking coffee is linked to lower suicide rates, suggests a study published in The World Journal of Biological Psychiatry.

Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) reviewed data from three large US studies. This consisted of 43,599 men involved in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (HPFS), 73,820 women in the Nurses' Health Study (NHS) and 91,005 women in the NHS II.

Okay, this is a lot of people.  It seems that during this study they studied other studies.

The researchers analyzed data regarding consumption of caffeine, coffee, and decaffeinated coffee every 4 years through food-frequency questionnaires, while the deaths from suicide were analyzed by physician review of death certificates.

Was the cause of death listed on the suicide death certificates "lack of coffee?"  It seems they focused on caffeine consumption.  Is there going to be another study that correlates suicide rates with people who eat jello?  How about comparing the suicide rate to people who use fluoridated toothpaste and those who don’t?  I guess if you want to create a press release that will get a lot of attention, you have a study that involves a beverage as popular as coffee.

Over the study period, 277 deaths were a result of suicide.

Tens of thousands of people were involved.  So, less than 300 didn’t drink enough coffee.  I wonder if the people who committed suicide just didn’t have a Starbucks near them.

Results revealed that the risk of suicide for adults who drank between 2-4 cups of coffee each day was 50% lower when compared with adults who drank decaffeinated coffee, very little or no coffee.

I hope you tea drinkers read the above paragraph.  You can relax and enjoy all the medicinal benefits you want, you're still at a higher risk for suicide.  

The researchers reported that there were no major differences in the risk of suicide between those who consumed 2-3 cups of coffee per day and those who drank 4 or more cups per day, but they note that this may be due to a smaller number of suicides in these categories.

I guess we dedicated coffee drinkers probably don’t commit suicide because we don’t want to leave this world until we’ve had enough java.  By the time we’re done, we’re all so wired we can’t think about much of anything.

The researchers report that as well as stimulating the central nervous system, caffeine acts as a mild anti-depressant by boosting the production of particular neurotransmitters in the brain. These include noradrenaline, dopamine, and serotonin. They add that this could explain the results of studies in the past that have linked the consumption of coffee to a lower risk of depression.

Translation: Blah, blah, blah, some industry paid us good money to do this study and we got them the results they wanted, blah, blah, blah, here’s a bunch of medical stuff you nonmedical people won’t understand but will sound impressive to you.

Regardless of the study's results, the authors say this does not mean the consumption of coffee should be increased.

I love this statement.  It’s like saying “Hey, we discovered that drinking coffee lowers suicide, but don’t drink more of it.  We mean, hey, if you’re going to commit suicide, why let coffee get in the way?

BOTTOM LINE

A study should be done to see who paid for this study.  I also feel some more studies should be done to show that drinking beer, eating steak and seafood could help you live forever.  I could add those studies to this one and my life would be complete. 

Here is a link to the article

https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2013/07/drinking-coffee-may-reduce-risk-of-suicide-by-50/