The smell of freshly brewed coffee is delightful on a Sunday morning – but have you ever wondered how coffee affects your hormones, or more specifically, estrogen?
Coffee (or caffeine) is a stimulant making us more alert, awake and productive. Caffeine increases stress hormones, dopamine and according to studies, caffeine may increase estrogen levels. However, increased levels of estrogen are not only affected by caffeine but also by our liver metabolism, diet, and stress management.
In order to address how coffee affects estrogen, we’ll also talk about how it affects our hormones and neurotransmitters. Furthermore, we’ll go through how diet, stress, and liver detoxification increase estrogen levels.
How Does Coffee Affect Your Hormones?
The smell of freshly brewed coffee in the morning is something that gets most people out of bed to get a boost of energy. However, coffee is a stimulant that affects hormones such as estrogen, our brain, and the nervous system.
Coffee is known to make us more alert and awake. It increases energy metabolism in the brain and decreases cerebral blood flow. According to studies, increased brain blood flow leads to increased oxygen levels and energy production, reduced brain inflammation and improved reaction time.
Caffeine has an impact on the central nervous system, neurotransmitters and hormones. When we ingest coffee or caffeine, it activates noradrenaline neurons and affects the local release of dopamine.
Cortisol, adrenaline and noradrenaline are referred to as stress hormones. When we drink coffee on an empty stomach it can increase stress hormones (more than if we’ve had a meal before drinking coffee) and it triggers the fight-and-flight response – the stress response.
It’s important to consider that all people are different – and some people may tolerate more caffeine than others. This depends on liver metabolism, nervous system dysregulation, and how we’re able to cope with stress.
How Is Coffee Metabolized?
When we drink coffee, which is acidic, on an empty stomach, it will partly break down the enzymes in the stomach that are responsible for digesting the food. This can eventually affect our absorption of nutrients in the small intestine and proper digestion in the gut.
Some people may notice that drinking coffee in the morning helps our digestion by activating nerves that make us want to eliminate feces immediately – with time, caffeine can cause sensitivity in our intestines.
Caffeine is metabolized in the liver and some people may be more sensitive to coffee (caffeine) compared to others. The metabolism of caffeine depends on how well our liver functions and on the enzyme called CYP1A2.
People have different tolerances of how much caffeine they can tolerate – even though caffeine can have positive impacts on learning, memory, energy, etc., and increase dopamine levels, consuming too much caffeine can lead to hormonal imbalance. This means it can have an impact on hormones such as estrogen.
What Hormone Does Coffee Increase?
Coffee (caffeine) may increase estrogen levels – but it depends on multiple factors such as diet, stress management and how our hormones are balanced.
Caffeine is a stimulant increasing the stress hormones cortisol, adrenaline and noradrenaline and affects neurotransmitters such as dopamine and serotonin.
Cortisol is known to:
- Increase blood glucose
- Increase heart rate
- Increase muscle tension
- Slow down digestion
A healthy response to short-term stress is important – but if dealing with chronic stress (chronic high cortisol), caffeine will have a negative impact on cortisol levels. Chronic stress can eventually lead to adrenal fatigue, where it feels like you’re so tired that coffee is the only solution for you to wake up in the morning.
Caffeine blocks the neurotransmitter adenosine in the brain which makes us tired. Caffeine binds to the same receptors as adenosine, but caffeine blocks adenosine and prevents fatigue. With time, adenosine decreases, but we will have more receptors – this means we’ll need more caffeine to block the receptors and build a tolerance for caffeine.
When adenosine is blocked and excitatory (stimulating) neurotransmitters move freely in the brain, it stimulates activity between neurons – this will send a signal to the adrenal glands to produce more adrenaline and noradrenaline.
Adrenaline and noradrenaline are catecholamines that both act like neurotransmitters and increase alertness, blood sugar, heart rate, activate the “fight-and-flight” and suppress hunger and digestion.
Caffeine increases the release of dopamine, that is a neurotransmitter, activated in the pleasure center. Caffeine blocks the reabsorption of caffeine in our body and slows down the pace at which dopamine leaves the brain. Dopamine is a feel-good ‘chemical’ and by stimulating our dopamine center, caffeine (or coffee) can be addictive.
This means caffeine increases stress hormones, makes us more awake and alert, and hits us with a boost of dopamine. If we’re having difficulties metabolizing caffeine in our liver and have a dysregulated nervous system – It can lead to feelings of anxiety, nervousness, restlessness, insomnia and worst case mood disorders.
A study suggests that caffeine may be linked to estrogen changes. According to the studies, some women had elevated estrogen levels compared to other women, when ingesting 200 milligrams of coffee a day.
As mentioned earlier, there are multiple factors that elevate estrogen levels – this includes lifestyle factors such as diet, weight, liver metabolism and stress hormones.
What Triggers High Estrogen?
For women, estrogen is primarily made in ovaries and fatty tissue. If having increased levels of estrogen, also called estrogen dominance, it will often have symptoms such as:
- PMS or PMDD
- Headaches or migraines
- Irregular periods
- Fatigue
- Mood swings
- Anxiety
- Increased abdominal fat or inability to lose weight
- Low libido
Estrogen is metabolized in the liver and is eliminated through feces. Liver metabolism is affected by diet. This means that consuming a diet high in sugar, inflammatory fats, toxins, alcohol, additives, chemicals, etc., affects the optimal function of the liver.
If the liver has to work hard to eliminate the substances and doesn’t have the right nutrients from amino acids, vitamins and minerals, it’ll make it harder for the liver to break down estrogen. This can lead to excess estrogen in our body.
Fortunately, it’s possible to get rid of excess estrogen naturally through supplements, diet and lifestyle changes.
Final Thoughts
Coffee (or caffeine) is a stimulant affecting stress hormones and neurotransmitters, making us more alert, awake and productive. However, some people may lack the enzyme CYP1A2 that metabolizes caffeine and experience side effects such as nervousness, anxiety and insomnia, even with the smallest sip of coffee.
Coffee’s impact on estrogen levels can, according to studies, increase estrogen levels amongst some women, but elevated estrogen levels are also affected by general liver metabolism, diet, and stress response.
