Experts simply fail to agree over coffee benefits

[Danielj1]

drchristianson.com/adrenal-...

So on the on hand it’s the worst thing you can take and on the other research shows coffee just about the most life enhancing substance on the planet - especially for those with hypo.

I follow ray peat on this and other supporters and have really upped my coffee intake but remain wary that there is such a fundamental split in guidance over this .

[radd]

Danielj1,

The thinking behind not drinking too much coffee is because long term low thyroid hormone compromises the adrenal glands, firstly elevating cortisol levels and eventually depleting.

Coffee will stimulate the adrenal glands so further compromising those levels. Prolonged cortisol elevations decrease the liver’s ability to clear excess oestrogens from the blood, which increases levels of thyroid TBG (proteins that thyroid hormone is attached to as it’s transported through the body). When thyroid hormone is bound to TBG, it is inactive as must be cleaved from TBG to become “free-fraction” before it can activate cellular receptors.

Tired adrenals trying to boost low cortisol levels may sequester progesterone to help make more cortisol and a drop in progesterone may create a progesterone/oestrogen imbalance called “oestrogen dominance”. … again we risk the increased levels of TBG.

All hormones work together so if you are healthy with balanced hormone levels and after a quick fix to stimulate the adrenals glands into giving you an extra kick, then coffee is fine but for those who are very unwell, it is not a good idea to drink copious amounts of caffeine.

[Danielj1 in reply to radd]

Thanks for all this detail and much to ponder on.

Priority is very much to address hormone balance with estrogen as one of the key elements.

It is a very complex scenario I accept and juggling all the variables a challenge.