Cortisol and Caffeine: Is Coffee Bad For You?
Q & A: Is coffee bad for you? I’ve read about how coffee affects cortisol levels, hence my question on cortisol and caffeine – specifically the articles said it was the caffeine, but not the high calorie add-ins that are the issue. Is coffee or caffeine bad for you?
A: In short: caffeine is generally a good thing – it helps boost energy and performance (mental and physical), slightly boosts fat burning, slightly reduces appetite, keeps some from getting constipated, and more. Some people are very sensitive to caffeine – if they have one cup of tea (low caffeine beverage) in the morning they won’t sleep right, but that’s rare, and those people should avoid it (and they know who they are already).
Cortisol and Caffeine
The research on if coffee or caffeine boosts cortisol production is both limited and mixed. Some studies say caffeine boosts cortisol production for those who don’t usually have caffeine, and some say it doesn’t boost cortisol production… BUT underlying all of this is the myth that “cortisol is bad, and that reducing cortisol is inherently good.”
If cortisol was bad then people who’s bodies don’t make enough would be gifted with unusual health vs diseased. People who’s bodies don’t make enough/any cortisol have something called Addison’s disease and the treatment is taking synthetic cortisol (very similar to prednisone) because cortisol is essential for health and life.
Our bodies are designed to make cortisol because we need it, and cortisol does many important things – controls inflammation, regulates blood pressure, wakes us up, mobilizes calories, helps us rise to a challenge, etc. Cortisol goes up in the morning and down in the evening, and if it didn’t go high in the morning waking up would be a herculean task.
Can you have too much?
It is true that some people suffer from the effects of having too much cortisol (Cushing syndrome), but the only folks who have a genuine medical issue caused by excess cortisol are:
- People taking large doses of prednisone (synthetic cortisol) or similar drugs for a long time, which would be done to help with organ transplant or manage an autoimmune disease.
- People with a specific pituitary and/or adrenal gland tumors that the body pump out excess cortisol.
Coffee (even gallons) can’t create excess cortisol… gallons of coffee would create diarrhea, but that a separate matter. You need high dose medication or a specific tumor to get excessive cortisol.
Health Benefits of Coffee and Caffeine
One of the “comebacks” I have seen online is pseudoscientific gibberish that can be summarized like this: “coffee/caffeine doesn’t need to give you Cushing syndrome to wreak havoc on your health – it’s bad for your heart, blood sugar regulation and causes weight gain because…”
I cut it off at “because…” because you don’t talk “how” about things that don’t exist. Conmen love getting into wordy explanations of “how” fake things work because it keeps your mind of the important question – does this thing exist? Am I talking to a conman? The better the conman the better they can get you lost inside of and debating the points within their con.
For example: you don’t spend time thinking or talking about how garden gnomes govern themselves because you know garden gnomes don’t exist and you don’t write children’s fairy tales.
So, let’s see if any of the 3 negative health outcomes exist. (Spoiler: they don’t.)
Heart: “Compared with people who did not drink coffee, morning coffee drinkers were 16% less likely to die of any cause and 31% less likely to die of cardiovascular disease.” Source
Blood sugar: “the relative risk of type 2 diabetes was [13% lower] for one cup per day, [42% lower] for two to three cups per day, and [47% lower] for four or more cups per day compared with nondrinkers.” Source
Weight gain: “Caffeine consumption provided an average weight loss of <2 kg after 4 weeks of intervention compared with the control group… Overall, the current meta-analysis [study of multiple studies to reduce chances of flukes] demonstrated that caffeine intake might promote weight, BMI and body fat reduction.” Source
Calories do Matter
It’s worth noting that what you put in your preferred caffeinated beverage does matter as far as calories go. A coffee with 2 creams (2 tbsp of cream) and 2 sugars (2 tsp of sugar) is going to be about 150 calories, and a Dunkin Doughnuts large frozen coffee with cream and caramel has over 1,000 calories… so what you put in your coffee matters a LOT. Plain black coffee is about 0 calories, so read the labels and think about what you’d rather have – fancy coffee or potatoes (or whatever). For me potatoes win every time.
Still curious?
Here’s more on cortisol.
Thanks for your question on Cortisol and Caffeine!