Your Diet Can Increase Your Stress Hormones: Here Are 3 Foods That Elevate Cortisol Levels
Key takeaways:
Cortisol is a hormone that increases in response to stress. Brief spikes in cortisol are natural. But persistently elevated cortisol can be harmful.
Some foods can raise your cortisol levels, including alcohol, caffeinated drinks, and foods with added sugar.
High cortisol levels can affect your health by causing mood changes, weight gain, and increases in blood sugar levels.
Table of contents
If you’re in a stressful or dangerous situation, your cortisol levels rise to prepare your body for “fight-or-flight” mode. This cortisol response increases your heart rate, blood pressure, and transfers energy to your muscles.
In these situations, high cortisol levels can be a good thing. But having consistently high levels of cortisol over a long period of time can harm your health. And it’s not just stress that increases cortisol. Some foods can increase your cortisol levels, too.
Read on to learn which foods raise cortisol levels, and how you can naturally lower your cortisol to protect your health.
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What does cortisol do to the body?
Cortisol is a hormone made in the adrenal glands — small organs located on top of your kidneys. Cortisol helps manage many important things in your body, like inflammation and the sleep-wake cycle.
In times of stress, your body releases more cortisol. Cortisol travels through your bloodstream and leads to many changes intended to help you respond to the immediate threat.
But your cortisol levels are not meant to be elevated for long. The cortisol response in your body is meant to be brief and temporary. If cortisol levels stay high for too long without giving your body a break, it can lead to:
Increased heart rate
High blood pressure
Increased blood sugar
Weight gain
Mood changes, irritability, anxiety, and depression
Fatigue and muscle weakness
Decreased sex drive
Decreased fertility and menstrual cycle changes
Foods that raise cortisol levels
Certain foods can raise cortisol levels.
But the relationship between food and cortisol is complex. What you eat can affect your cortisol levels, and cortisol levels can influence what you eat.
For example, high cortisol can make you crave foods that are high in sugar and fat. Eating these foods may decrease cortisol levels in the short term. But over time, eating foods high in sugar and fat can have negative effects on your health.
Natural strategies for reducing cortisol: Getting adequate sleep, practicing mindful meditation, and exercising regularly are just a few natural ways to lower your cortisol levels.
Supplements and foods to reduce cortisol: Increases in cortisol can create both short- and long-term health effects. But certain supplements and foods can help reduce high cortisol levels that come with stress.
A first-person story: Here’s what one woman eats — and avoids — to lower her cortisol levels, and benefit her overall health in the process.
Here’s what research shows about certain foods that raise cortisol levels.
1. Foods and drinks high in sugar
When you’re stressed, you may crave sugary foods or drinks. That’s because eating sugar can actually reduce the short-term release of cortisol from stress. But that’s not the end of the story.
Evidence suggests that foods with lots of added sugar can increase cortisol levels over time. And lots of sugar in your diet can lead to health conditions, including:
Weight gain
Diabetes
Heart disease
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The type of sugar you eat also matters. For example, sugar from whole foods like fruit seems to decrease cortisol levels. On the other hand, added sugar from processed foods is linked to higher cortisol levels.
2. Caffeine
Many people rely on the caffeine in coffee or tea to help start their day. In moderation, these drinks can have health benefits. And caffeine can make you feel more alert and improve your reaction time.
The stimulating effects of caffeine may be due, in part, to increased cortisol release. One study found that caffeine increased cortisol levels, even in people who were used to drinking coffee every day. In smaller doses, this is probably OK. The FDA says that for most adults 400 mg of caffeine per day is generally safe. This is the amount of caffeine in 4 to 5 cups of coffee.
But more caffeine may make you anxious or jittery and cause heart palpitations. So watch out for energy drinks and supplements, which tend to have higher amounts of caffeine than tea or coffee. And note that caffeine isn’t found just in drinks. Chocolate — and chocolate-flavored and coffee-flavored foods (think: ice cream) — can also contain caffeine.
3. Alcohol
Many people drink alcohol as a way to relieve stress. And right after a drink, you may feel more relaxed. But this effect is short-lived, and alcohol actually increases cortisol levels. As your body processes the alcohol, many people find it increases their anxiety.
Certain patterns of drinking may be more harmful than others when it comes to cortisol. One study showed that binge drinking may raise cortisol levels more than moderate drinking. In other words, people who drank 4 or more drinks in one episode had higher cortisol than those who drank less than 3 drinks. And long-term, heavy drinking can cause cortisol levels to remain high.
What’s the best thing to do for high cortisol levels?
It’s natural — and helpful — for cortisol levels to increase in stressful situations. But it’s not good for your cortisol levels to consistently remain high.
You can begin to manage cortisol levels on your own by adopting lifestyle practices that help keep cortisol levels low. In addition to limiting foods that can increase cortisol, try these strategies to manage stress:
Getting 7 to 9 hours of quality sleep each night
Exercising regularly
Eating foods that lower cortisol levels, such as avocados, fermented foods, bananas, dark chocolate, and spinach
Recognizing when your stress is triggered, and practicing breathing exercises in these situations
Using complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) tools such as yoga, meditation, tai chi, Reiki, and massage
Frequently asked questions
Eggs are not thought to be among the foods that raise cortisol levels. There’s no evidence that eggs raise cortisol levels. In fact, eggs contain several nutrients that may help reduce cortisol. These include:
Omega-3 fatty acids: This is a type of fat that may help reduce cortisol levels. Eggs enriched with omega-3 provide more than conventional eggs.
Magnesium: Studies suggest that magnesium may reduce cortisol levels. But eggs alone won’t give you enough magnesium for this effect.
Vitamin B5: This vitamin helps support the adrenal glands, where cortisol is made. But even though B5 is sometimes called the “anti-stress vitamin,” there isn’t concrete evidence to say it lowers cortisol.
No. Since whole grains (including oats) can help to regulate blood sugar levels, they may reduce the production of cortisol. And oats contain a type of soluble fiber called beta glucan, which may help with lowering cortisol.
There isn’t one food or supplement to lower cortisol immediately. But breathing exercises can help when you need to lower your stress level quickly. This is because slow breathing affects heart rate and blood pressure. So you can use slow breathing techniques next time you are in a stressful situation or feeling anxious. You can also regularly practice breathing exercises, since they may have an effect on your cortisol over the long term.
The bottom line
Temporary increases in cortisol levels are not harmful to your health. But if your cortisol levels stay high over a long period of time, then you can see changes in your health. The food you eat can also affect your cortisol levels. Foods that are high in added sugars, caffeine, and alcohol raise cortisol levels. You can naturally manage cortisol by limiting these foods in your diet.
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References
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