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How Coffee Affects Your Sex Hormone Levels
Nautilus | Science • • health
Key Points:
- A study from the University of Oulu in Finland analyzed over 2,200 middle-aged adults and found that heavy coffee drinkers had less total and visceral fat and more skeletal muscle mass, potentially due to caffeine boosting metabolism and fat burning.
- In men, higher coffee consumption was linked to healthier glucose-insulin profiles, increased bioavailable testosterone, and higher sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) levels, though free testosterone was slightly lower.
- Bioavailable testosterone refers to the usable form of testosterone, while SHBG regulates sex hormone availability by binding and deactivating them; these hormonal changes may contribute to coffee’s association with reduced diabetes risk.
- Women showed more modest hormone changes with coffee intake, including slightly elevated SHBG and lower free androgens, with lower SHBG levels generally linked to higher type 2 diabetes risk.
- The study is observational, so it cannot establish causality, but the findings add to evidence of coffee’s potential health benefits, especially related to metabolism and hormone regulation.
