Photo: Nicholas Liby/Flickr

Yes, you read that correctly. It says POP, because this is a Chicago publication.

And yes, researchers have found a link between depression and diet soft drinks. After surveying more than a quarter million people, the study’s authors from the National Institutes of Health in Research Triangle Park in North Carolina
reported that people who drank four or more cans of soda a day were 30 percent more likely to be diagnosed with depression. That number is even greater for people who drank diet soda or fruit punch.

On the other hand, the study further illustrates that coffee is the nectar of the gods. People who drank four cups or more of coffee a day were 10 percent less likely to be diagnosed with depression.

What all this means is still a mystery. Researchers discovered a correlation, not causation, between the beverages and depression. It could be that depressed people are more likely to drink diet soda, or it could be that diet soda is making people depressed, or it could be neither of those things.

But just to be clear, they did prove that coffee is irrefutably awesome.