This amount of coffee a day is tied to a lower risk of depression and anxiety: study

Researchers have found that the number of coffee cups an individual consumes reveals their risk of developing depression and anxiety, according to a recent study.

Coffee lovers may need to start counting their cups. According to a recent study, the number of coffee cups an individual consumes reveals their risk of developing mental health disorders like depression or anxiety.

The study, published in Psychiatry Research last month, found that people who consumed two to three cups of coffee daily had a lower risk of depression and anxiety.

Meanwhile, people who drank more than six cups daily were found to have a higher risk of depression and anxiety.

People who drank one to two cups of coffee daily had a lower risk of developing depression and anxiety, but not at the same levels as those who consumed two to three cups a day, the study showed.

Researchers said caffeine, a key component of coffee, is believed to be the factor that influences mental health.

The study involved 152,821 people who responded to online mental health questionnaires as part of the U.K. Biobank data set—a data pool that contains data of more than half a million adults from the general population in the U.K.

The data on coffee consumption was obtained from online questionnaires completed between 2006 and 2010, while mental disorders data came from various sources, the study said.