The following post was written by our Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioner, Christopher Cole:
The majority of my patients are women, and the majority of my female patients see me specifically for fertility concerns. Later in their lives, I usually see them to help manage menopausal symptoms. I gave a talk last week at the Grimsby Public Library all about Women’s Health and Fertility. I provided a short summary of how Traditional Chinese Medicine approaches Women’s health and then covered the common conversations I have with my patients.
How Does Caffeine Influence Estrogen Production?
One is “Coffee and the holy trinity of Estrogen Production.” I have this conversation a few times a week. My patient is either post-delivery, pre-menopausal of menopausal, AND struggling or failing to maintain a healthy weight.
You have 3 sources of estrogen in your body. Your ovaries, adrenal glands, and fat cells. If your ovaries
are taxed or in the process of shutting down, you have two sources left. And let me be clear, your body is absolutely dedicated to keeping you a woman by producing estrogen. So this leaves your adrenal glands and fat cells to do the work. And if you drink many caffeinated coffees daily, you’ve been 
depleting your adrenals for some time now. So the job falls to fat cells. The subtext to this conversation is statements like “I work out like a fiend at the gym every day and I can’t drop a pound!” and “My life won’t work without many coffees every day!” Your body wants what it wants and it has the final say. You can address the demand for estrogen by supplementing with estrogen pills or creams, but why would you do this just to keep taking the drug known as caffeine? Drink decalf which has about 5% of the caffeine as a regular coffee. It will take a little while for your estrogen production to rise, but once you eliminate your caffeine dependence, you will find you have more overall energy.
Anymore questions? Please contact us at (905) 945-4481.