Want to smile more? Swallow this: People who drink regular or diet soda, iced tea, or fruit punch are more likely to suffer from depression, while coffee drinkers are less prone to the blues, according to a new study presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s Annual Meeting.
Researchers asked 263,925 people about their drinking habits and whether they’d been diagnosed with depression since the year 2000. Those who drank more than four daily servings of regular soda or fruit punch were up to 38 percent more vulnerable to depression than those who shunned the sweet stuff. Meanwhile, diet soda, diet iced tea, and diet fruit punch drinkers were even more likely to be depressed. The one beverage that doesn’t bring on the blues is coffee: People who downed four or more cups of Joe per day were 10 percent less likely to suffer from severe sadness.
While guzzling sugary and artificially-sweetened drinks have historically been linked to poor health, it’s not yet clear whether these beverages directly cause depression. That said, the benefits of coffee come as no surprise: Coffee is chock full of caffeine, a well-known brain stimulant, and rich in antioxidants and phytochemicals, which may also be responsible for the drink’s depression-fighting power, according to study author Honglei Chen, M.D., Ph.D., a tenure-track investigator at the National Institute of Environmental Health Science.
To decrease your odds of depression, top off your coffee mug and quench your thirst with water. And when your sweet tooth strikes? Slurp down this no-sugar-added java smoothie:
Java Breakfast Smoothie
What You’ll Need:
1 cup brewed coffee
1 cup low fat milk
1/2 cup nonfat Greek yogurt
2 T pitted dried dates, chopped
1 banana
2 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla or coffee extract
1/4 tsp cinnamon or cardamom
1 Tbsp peanut butter or almond butter
How to Make It:
1. Pour brewed coffee in an ice cube tray, let cool to room temperature and freeze.
2. Place milk, yogurt, dates, banana, cocoa, extract, cinnamon, and 5 coffee ice cubes in a blender container. Turn blender onto its low setting and process for 20 seconds.
3. Switch to the high setting and blend until dates and ice cubes are pulverized, about 1 minute.
4. Drop peanut or almond butter into the liquid and process for 10 seconds more.
Makes 1 serving. Per serving: 450 calories, 13 g fat (4 g sat), 97 g carbs, 275 mg sodium, 10 g fiber, 22 g protein
More from WH:
The Best New (Healthy!) Java Recipes
Thai Iced Coffee
The Perks Of Coffee Drinks
Espresso Granita Recipe
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