Cortisol Triggering Foods: What Raises Cortisol and What May Help

The foods and drinks most clearly linked to higher cortisol in human studies are caffeine, heavy alcohol use, very salty diets and real black licorice, along with strict calorie cutting. Sugar is more complicated than most lists suggest. On the other side, black tea, fatty fish, dark chocolate and prebiotic fiber have small studies linking them to a calmer cortisol response. This guide covers what each study found, how strong the evidence is, and simple swaps.

It is educational, not medical advice. Cortisol rises and falls all day for good reasons, and no single food sets your level on its own. To see where your own levels sit, our guide on how to test cortisol levels compares blood, saliva and at-home kits.

Key Takeaways

• Caffeine raised cortisol in a controlled trial; daily coffee drinkers had a smaller response, but it did not disappear (Lovallo et al., 2005).
• Heavier drinking and saltier diets were linked to higher cortisol in large observational studies.
• Black licorice blocks the enzyme that switches cortisol off in the kidney, which can raise blood pressure.
• Sugar did not raise cortisol in the studies we reviewed; it may dampen the stress response for a while, which can make it a habit under stress.
• Black tea, fish oil, dark chocolate and a prebiotic fiber were linked to lower cortisol in small trials.

New to the topic? Start with our guide to what cortisol is and what it does in your body.

How Food Affects Cortisol

Cortisol is a hormone made by your adrenal glands. It normally peaks within an hour of waking and falls through the day, and it rises during stress to make energy available. A short rise after a meal is part of that normal pattern: in one study, a protein-rich lunch reliably raised saliva cortisol for a while, and a low-protein lunch did not (Gibson et al., 1999).

So the useful question is not which foods cause any rise at all, but which habits keep cortisol higher than it needs to be, day after day. That is what the studies below looked at. For the bigger picture of ongoing stress, see how chronic stress affects aging.

Cortisol Triggering Foods and Drinks

Food or habit	What studies found	Type of evidence
Caffeine	Raised cortisol through the day; smaller but still present in daily users	Controlled trial, 96 adults
Alcohol	Higher cortisol with more drinks per week	Observational, 3,670 adults
Very salty diet	More cortisol passed in urine with higher salt intake	Observational, 370 adults
Black licorice	Blocks cortisol breakdown in the kidney; raises blood pressure	Small trials and a meta-analysis
Strict calorie cutting	Higher total cortisol after 3 weeks at 1,200 calories a day	Randomized trial, 121 women
Sugar	No rise on its own; may blunt the stress response for a while	Small trials, mixed picture

1. Caffeine: Coffee, Energy Drinks and Pre-Workouts

In a 4-week crossover trial of 96 healthy adults, caffeine taken after 5 days without it caused a robust rise in cortisol across the day. When the same people had been taking caffeine daily, the rise was smaller but did not go away (Lovallo et al., 2005). The test doses were 250 mg three times a day, about the caffeine in two to three cups of coffee each time.

Swap: keep caffeine to the morning, avoid stacking coffee with energy drinks, or try tea. Our guide to mushroom coffee vs regular coffee compares lower-caffeine options.

2. Alcohol

In 3,670 adults from the long-running Whitehall II study, men had about 3% higher cortisol for each weekly unit of alcohol, and heavy drinkers had a flatter daily cortisol curve. Women who drank heavily had a larger cortisol rise after waking than moderate drinkers. The pattern was not explained by drinking on the day of testing (Badrick et al., 2008). This was an observational study, so it shows a link rather than cause and effect. Alcohol also breaks up sleep, and short sleep raised the next evening's cortisol by 37 to 45% in a sleep-loss study (Leproult et al., 1997).

3. Very Salty and Highly Processed Foods

In 370 adults, the more sodium people passed in their urine (a measure of salt intake), the more cortisol and cortisol by-products they passed too. Seven in ten were eating a high-salt diet (Baudrand et al., 2014). Most salt comes from packaged and restaurant food rather than the salt shaker, so cooking more meals at home is the simplest swap.

4. Black Licorice

Real licorice root contains glycyrrhizin. In volunteers given licorice, it blocked the kidney enzyme that turns active cortisol into inactive cortisone, so cortisol acted more strongly in the kidney and the body held on to sodium (Stewart et al., 1987). A meta-analysis of 18 studies found that regular intake of at least 100 mg of glycyrrhizic acid a day raised blood pressure and lowered potassium, even at modest doses (Penninkilampi et al., 2017).

Safety note: this applies to licorice made with real licorice root, including some candies, teas and herbal products, not to anise-flavored sweets. If you have high blood pressure or heart problems, check labels and ask your clinician before eating it regularly.

5. Skipping Meals and Strict Dieting

In a 3-week randomized trial of 121 women, eating 1,200 calories a day increased total cortisol output, and tracking every calorie increased how stressed people felt (Tomiyama et al., 2010). Regular, balanced meals are usually kinder to your stress response than aggressive restriction.

6. Sugar: More Complicated Than It Looks

Sugar shows up on almost every list of cortisol triggering foods, but the studies point another way. In young men, a glucose drink did not raise cortisol by itself; instead, men who had fasted and drank only water barely produced a cortisol response to a stressful task, while those who had the glucose drink produced a large one (Kirschbaum et al., 1997). In 19 women, two weeks of sugar-sweetened drinks three times a day led to a smaller cortisol response to stress than artificially sweetened drinks (Tryon et al., 2015).

The researchers suggest that this short-term calming effect may be part of why people under stress reach for sweets, and why the habit can be hard to break. Limiting added sugar is still sensible for other reasons; for cravings, see chromium picolinate for blood sugar and cravings.

The popular cortisol cocktail of orange juice, coconut water and salt is covered in its own guide, ingredient by ingredient.

Foods That May Help Lower Cortisol

• Black tea: in a 6-week randomized trial of 75 healthy men drinking four cups a day, cortisol fell further after stressful tasks than with a placebo drink, and the men felt more relaxed afterward. Their stress during the tasks did not differ (Steptoe et al., 2007). Tea also contains L-theanine, an amino acid studied for calm focus.
• Fatty fish: salmon, sardines and mackerel provide omega-3 fats. In a 4-month trial of 138 adults, 2.5 g a day of omega-3 as a supplement led to 19% lower overall cortisol during and after a stressful speech task than placebo (Madison et al., 2021).
• Dark chocolate: in a small 2-week study of 30 adults, 40 g of dark chocolate a day lowered the cortisol passed in urine (Martin et al., 2009).
• Prebiotic fiber: in 45 healthy adults, 3 weeks of a galactooligosaccharide (GOS) prebiotic supplement lowered the cortisol rise after waking compared with placebo; a second prebiotic, FOS, did not (Schmidt et al., 2015). Beans, lentils, onions, garlic and oats are everyday sources of prebiotic fibers, although the trial used a supplement.

For supplements tested on cortisol, see our guide to supplements to lower cortisol.

For how stress, cortisol and eating habits relate to fat around the waist, see our guide to cortisol belly.

A Simple Day of Eating With Cortisol in Mind

• Breakfast: eat within a few hours of waking rather than running on coffee alone, and have your coffee or tea in the morning.
• Lunch and dinner: regular meals with protein, vegetables, beans or whole grains, and fish a couple of times a week. Go easy on salty packaged food.
• Afternoon: switch to herbal tea or water, and a small square of dark chocolate makes a good afternoon snack.
• Evening: keep alcohol light and protect your sleep. Our guide to sleep supplements that do not cause grogginess covers gentle options.

Food is only part of the picture; our guide on how to lower cortisol naturally covers sleep, exercise, breathing and other daily habits.

Where Our Products Fit

Two of our sprays contain L-theanine, the calming amino acid found in tea:

• Theanine Nasal Spray: 36 mg of L-theanine per two-spray serving, used as needed.
• Kanna Nasal Spray: kanna extract with L-theanine, in three strengths.

For more on calm and stress, see our guide to the best supplements for stress and mood and our stress and mood guide.

Sources

• Lovallo WR et al. Caffeine stimulation of cortisol secretion across the waking hours in relation to caffeine intake levels. Psychosomatic Medicine, 2005. PubMed
• Gibson EL et al. Increased salivary cortisol reliably induced by a protein-rich midday meal. Psychosomatic Medicine, 1999. PubMed
• Badrick E et al. The relationship between alcohol consumption and cortisol secretion in an aging cohort. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, 2008. PubMed
• Leproult R et al. Sleep loss results in an elevation of cortisol levels the next evening. Sleep, 1997. PubMed
• Baudrand R et al. High sodium intake is associated with increased glucocorticoid production, insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome. Clinical Endocrinology, 2014. PubMed
• Stewart PM et al. Mineralocorticoid activity of liquorice: 11-beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase deficiency comes of age. Lancet, 1987. PubMed
• Penninkilampi R et al. The association between consistent licorice ingestion, hypertension and hypokalaemia: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Human Hypertension, 2017. PubMed
• Tomiyama AJ et al. Low calorie dieting increases cortisol. Psychosomatic Medicine, 2010. PubMed
• Kirschbaum C et al. Effects of fasting and glucose load on free cortisol responses to stress and nicotine. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, 1997. PubMed
• Tryon MS et al. Excessive Sugar Consumption May Be a Difficult Habit to Break: A View From the Brain and Body. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, 2015. PubMed
• Steptoe A et al. The effects of tea on psychophysiological stress responsivity and post-stress recovery: a randomised double-blind trial. Psychopharmacology, 2007. PubMed
• Madison AA et al. Omega-3 supplementation and stress reactivity of cellular aging biomarkers: an ancillary substudy of a randomized, controlled trial in midlife adults. Molecular Psychiatry, 2021. PubMed
• Martin FP et al. Metabolic effects of dark chocolate consumption on energy, gut microbiota, and stress-related metabolism in free-living subjects. Journal of Proteome Research, 2009. PubMed
• Schmidt K et al. Prebiotic intake reduces the waking cortisol response and alters emotional bias in healthy volunteers. Psychopharmacology, 2015. PubMed

Frequently Asked Questions

What foods trigger cortisol?

The clearest links in human studies are caffeine, heavy alcohol use, very salty diets and real black licorice, plus strict calorie cutting. A protein-rich meal also causes a short, normal rise.

Does coffee raise cortisol?

Yes. Caffeine raised cortisol in a controlled trial, and people who drank it daily still had a smaller rise. Keeping coffee to the morning fits your natural cortisol rhythm better than an afternoon cup.

Does sugar raise cortisol?

Not in the studies we reviewed. Sugar did not raise cortisol on its own and may blunt the stress response for a while, which may be part of why stressed people crave it.

Do eggs trigger cortisol?

Eggs have not been singled out in cortisol research. Any protein-rich meal can cause a short, normal rise in cortisol, which is not a reason to avoid eggs.

What food should I eat to reduce cortisol levels?

Small trials link black tea, fatty fish, dark chocolate and prebiotic fiber to lower cortisol. Regular meals, morning-only caffeine, light drinking and good sleep matter at least as much.

How do you flush cortisol out of your system?

You cannot flush it out with a food or drink. Your body breaks down cortisol on its own, and levels settle when the stress response switches off, helped by sleep, regular meals and less caffeine and alcohol.

Does alcohol raise cortisol?

In a study of 3,670 adults, more drinks per week went with higher cortisol, and heavy drinkers had a flatter daily cortisol curve.

Is black licorice bad for cortisol?

Real licorice root slows the breakdown of cortisol in the kidney and can raise blood pressure with regular use. Anise-flavored candy without licorice root does not have this effect.

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This content is for education and is not medical advice. Our products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Talk with a healthcare provider before starting a new supplement if you are pregnant, breastfeeding or taking medication.