ALCOHOL consumption does not cause depression, a team of WA scientists has found.

A study of 3873 elderly men has shown no truth to the long-held belief alcohol causes people to become depressed, University of Western Australia school of psychiatry and clinical neurosciences professor Osvaldo Almeida said.

The study was conducted over three years as part of the long-running Health in Men Study.

“We found (as expected) that this particular genetic variant was associated with reduced alcohol use, but it had no association with depression whatsoever,” he said.

“The conclusion is that alcohol use neither causes nor prevents depression in older men. Our results also debunk the view that mild to moderate alcohol consumption may reduce the risk of depression.”

Prof Almeida said the association observed between alcohol and depression could be explained by other factors, but not by alcohol itself.

“It doesn’t mean alcohol is entirely safe and people can consume it in whatever way they like. We know that alcohol when consumed in excess does create a lot of health problems – but what we now know is that one of those problems is not depression.”