Teetotallers 'at increased depression risk'

Washington, Aug 29 (ANI): A new study has found that people abstaining from alcohol are at greater risk of suffering from depression as compared to those who consume it.

Nord-Trøndelag Health Study (HUNT study), which was based in Norway, was based on 38,000 individuals.

The report showed that those individuals who avoided alcohol over a two-week period were more likely than moderate drinkers to get symptoms of depression.

Especially, individuals who additionally labeled themselves as "abstainers" were at the highest risk of depression.

Some other factors, which could be the reason for feeling low, are age, physical health problems but it still does not explain all the increased risk.

The authors also had access to reported levels of alcohol consumption 11 years prior to the main survey.

It helped show that fourteen percent of current abstainers had previously been heavy drinkers, but this did not explain all of the increased risk of depression amongst abstainers.

However, the current guidance is for men to drink no more than three to four units each day, and women to drink no more than two to three units. (ANI)