16 Little Known Plants + Phytocompounds to Control(!) Your Cortisol Levels | Plus: A Dozen Better-Known Alternatives

Don't forget: Cortisol is no stressor, it's released to help us cope w/ stress.

While I have repeatedly emphasized that the notion of cortisol as the "muscle-catabolic stress hormone" you have to "keep as low as possible" is fundamentally flawed, there are reasons why you may want to control your cortisol levels within what would be considered the circadian normal zone, i.e. high(er) levels of cortisol that get you going upon waking, lower levels of cortisol in the PM and at night to facilitate optimal glucose control, avoid HPTA suppression (=keep normal thyroid, GH, and testosterone/estrogen levels), allow for healthy and recuperative sleep and so on and so forth.

If you are physically healthy and not overweight/obese, you are probably able to achieve this goal if you have the following (health) habits: (1) getting enough sleep (6-8h), (2) adhering to fundamental rules of sleep hygiene (same time, same routine, no blue light exposure before and during the sleep phase, etc.), (3) not starving yourself/depriving yourself of carbs while trying to get away w/ most energy from protein, not fat, (4) controlling your workout volume and using periodization strategies to benefit from temporary overreaching while avoiding chronic overtraining, (5) meditation and other techniques to reduce and/or cope with stress (learn more in "Take control of your cortisol levels").

Chronically elevated glucocorticoids can occur in the early phase of overtraining:

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Unfortunately, it is not always possible to control/reduce your stress exposure solely by behavioral means. In those situations, medicinal plants that can modulate your hormonal response to stress can come handy. A group of less-known medicinal plants and herbal products has recently been reviewed by scientists from the Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences in Iran (Solati 2017).

For their recently published review, Solati, Heidar-Soureshjani, and Pocock considered all papers describing herbal/medicinal plant treatments that will ameliorate or normalize the production of corticotropinreleasing hormone (CRH), adrenocorticotropic hormone (ADH), or cortisol (CORT), directly.
Of the initial 884 studies that turned out in response to the scientists' keyword search, the authors excluded 738 because they were, upon closer scrutiny, out of date, had an insufficient scope or were duplicates. Of the remaining 146 studies 30 were excluded, because there was no English-language full text. Another 94 did not measure any of the three target hormones and were likewise eliminated. Eventually, the authors were thus left with only 19 studies they grouped into studies investigating the effects of medicinal plants (meaning you would have to ingest a decoction, brew a tea (water extraction) or simply eat parts of the plant) and phytocompounds (meaning you would have to buy a supplement or extract certain substances from a plant yourself).

Table 1 & 2: Plants (left) and phytocompounds w/ stress modulating effects

Complex blends (proprietary or not) such as Si Ni Tang, a Chinese herbal combination consisting of Glycyrrhiza uralensis, Zingiber officinale, and Aconitum carmichaeli, a traditional mix of Magnolia ofifcinalis and Phellodendron amurense, or Zhi-Zi-Hou-Po, which consists of Gardenia jasminoides Ellis fruit, Citrus aurantium L. fruit and Magnolia offcinalis Rehd. et Wils. bark were not included in the tabular overviews, but still showed promising effects in experimental investigations:

• 

  Figure 1: Effects of Andrographis paniculata extract (AP), andrographolide (Andro), and Withania somnifera extract (WS) on plasma corticosterone level of chronically stressed rats. Values are Mean ± SEM (n = 6), *p < 0.05 versus normal control; ¥p < 0.05 versus stressed control (Thakur 2014). Note: The classic adaptogen WS performs best.

  Si Ni Tang (Glycyrhhiza uralensis, Zigiber officinale, and Aconitum carmichaeli) modulated increase in corticosterone and therefore helped relieve stress in a rodent model of unpredictable (≠everyday) stressors (41) and modulated both corticosterone and ACTH while increasing the mRNA expression of hippocampal glucocorticoid receptors in another study (Wei 2016).
• Magnolia officinalis and Phellodendron amurense in stressed human beings yielded a significant decrease in oral cortisol levels over 4 weeks of continuous treatment (Talbott 2013).
• Zhi-Zi-Hou-Po, consisting of Gardenia jasminoides Ellis fruit, Citrus aurantium L. fruit and Magnolia officinalis Rehd. et Wils. bark, caused normalization of ACTH and CORT levels in a rat model of unpredictable chronic mild stress (Xing 2015).

In conjunction with the 14 items from Table 1 + 2 that's a total of 17 different "herbals" (in the widest sense) you can use as a complement to behavioral modifications to keep your cortisol levels within their normal circadian patters (high in the AM, a steady decline with intermediate increases before/right after meals).

One simply has to repeat, however: goal must not be to annihilate cortisol!

Even if you haven't read my previous articles about the performance enhancing, inflammation controlling, recovery facilitating and even weight loss and glycemic benefits of normal levels of cortisol, a closer look at the effect summaries in Table 1 + 2 teaches us that…

• 

  Figure 2: Icariin is better known for its virility effects, but it's also a potent stress-reducer as a 2010 rodent study (chronic stress vs. control) indicates; sign. reductions in both corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) and cortisol were observed in response to the HED of 5 and 10 mg/kg Icariin daily (Pan 2010).

  Valeriana jatamansi will also reduce the level of the "happy neurotransmitter" 3-endorphin,
• Shyusan could reduce the glucocorticoid activity to a degree that will significantly increase your risk of hypoglycemia – especially on low-carb + high protein diets,
• YZ-50 will impair the natural auto-regulatory mechanisms of the HPA, or
• Icariin will also reduce the number of serotonin receptors in the hippocampus and frontal cortex and will thus mess w/ your brain chemistry or rather your brains response to a given level of neurotransmitters

Both, the initially mentioned a too drastic reduction of the levels of cortisol and its controlling hormones CRH and ADH, as well as "corollary damage" in form of changes in neurotransmitter levels are something you must at least keep an eye on, when you're using any of the herbals from Solati et al.'s list to modulate, control, or (if necessary) reduce your cortisol levels.

What other, better-known cortisol controlling agents are there? 

While this review focuses on less well-known compounds. From previous articles or other web sources you will yet know that there is a dozen of better-known alternatives:

Starting with vitamin C that can reduce the cortisol release in response to running an ultramarathon if it's taken at a high dosage of 1,500mg/d for 7 days before the marathon (do not use chronically or you may impair your gains). An ameliorative effect on the exercise-induced increase in cortisol was also observed in 9 healthy male subjects in response to 15 mmol magnesium-L-aspartate-hydrochloride (that's 365 mg/d) taken daily for 14 days. What's odd is that a newer study by Cinar, et al. (2008) in which 10 mg/kg of magnesium sulfate were supplemented, the opposing effects, i.e. an increase in the cortisol response to exhausting exercise was observed. An effect you may remember from another common supplement: caffeine, which will also raise your cortisol levels and your cortisol response to exercise (Lovallo 2006; Slivka 2008).

Amino acid supplements (BCAA 140mg/kg + arginine 100mg/kg + ornithine 80 mg/kg) have also been shown to have complex effects on the cortisol response to exercise, with lower baseline and post-exercise cortisol levels in response to 320mg/kg body weight (vs. placebo) consumed 60 minutes before a standardized workout, but a significantly more pronounced increase of cortisol from pre- to post-exercise (in general, that's good news: you want a large amplitude in the ups and downs of your cortisol levels) - an effect that was not observed in response to a protein supplement in Fry, et al. 1993 or a protein + carbohydrate mix in Williams et al. (2002).

Figure 2:  Effects of whey (WPI) vs. soy (SPI) PWO supplement on changes in cortisol (nmol·L−1). *Significantly different from PRE value ( p ≤ 0.05), †Significantly ( p ≤ 0.05) different from WPI treatment (Kraemer 2013).

Unlike soy protein, the provision of fast digesting whey protein (which also contains several bioactive peptides) has a small, but measurable effect on the exercise-induced post-workout cortisol spikes (Kraemer 2013).

Another better-known group of cortisol control agents are the so-called adaptogens

Adaptogens are (in herbal medicine) natural substances considered to help the body adapt to stress. Almost all of them will also affect the levels of cortisol, with ginseng, holy basil, ashwaghanda (Withania somnifera, see Figure 1, WS), astragalus, rhodiola rosea and cordyceps having cortisol-reducing, and licorice root and caffeine having cortisol increasing/promoting effects.

Figure 4: Cortisol concentrations in saliva on 4 test days. PC = placebo maintenance followed by 3 × 250-mg caffeine. C300 = 300 mg/d of caffeine at home followed by caffeine challenge on the test day. C600 = 600 mg/d at home followed by caffeine challenge on the test day. PP = placebo at home and placebo on test day. Base 1, Base 2, Base 3 = saliva samples taken immediately before taking a caffeine or pla capsule. PostC = samples taken 1h postdrug. Stress and Recov = samples taken at the end of a 30-min behavioral stress period or after 30 min of recovery (Lovallo 2005).

Especially with respect to caffeine, you should remember, though, that its chronic consumption will significantly reduce its efficacy - if that's a good or a bad thing, obviously depends on whether your goal is to ameliorate or boost your cortisol levels.

Patented substances and proprietary blends

The DHEA-metabolite 7-keto, but not DHEA itself, can also sign. reduce your cortisol levels by inhibiting the conversion (/activation) of cortisone to cortisol.

Figure 5: 7-Keto inhibits the conversion of inactive cortisone to active cortisol.

The studies showing beneficial downstream effects on metabolism or body composition were however all done in subjects w/ overweight/obesity - there's yet no doubt that the general effect on cortisol production will occur in lean(er) individuals, as well.

Next to the proprietary DHEA-metabolite, there's also Cortitrol a proprietary blend of Magnolia (Magnolia officinalis) bark Extract (9.5 mg), Epimedium (Epimedium koreanum, Extract 100 mg which contains Icariin herb ), L-Theanine (TheaPure, 67.5 mg), Plant Sterols (with Beta Sitosterol 55 mg), and Phosphatidylserine (8.3 mg), all of which have some research to back up their effects on cortisol, individually. It is thus not totally surprising that sponsored trials report significant reductions in serum cortisol responses to physical stress (Kraemer 2005).

Take Control of Your Cortisol Levels - Use These 5x Stress-Modulating Diet, Lifestyle & Supplementation Rules Wisely | more

Bottom line: You can find a brief overview of the herbals mentioned in the review at hand in Table 1 + 2. Keep in mind, though, you do not want to annihilate your cortisol levels. Having chronically low levels of cortisol can trigger hypoglycemic episodes (often w/ a racing heart and/or high blood pressure, because an increase in catecholamines needs to compensate the lack of cortisol), general fatigue, exuberant inflammation, joint pain, allergies, sleeping problems, etc.

Ideally, you'd get a 4x/d salivary cortisol baseline reading to know if your fat belly is in fact caused by high cortisol levels, not simply by eating too much, before you embark on any (higher dose) supplement regimen for cortisol control.

Plus: If you stumble across one of the referenced write-ups on commercially available cortisol blockers, make sure to check if the studies that are quoted are even relevant for you. 7-Keto, for example, has decently convincing results in the short run in obese/heavily inflamed individuals. Neither its long-term safety, nor its efficacy in healthy, lean, athletic folks has been studied sufficiently, though | Comment!

References:

• Cinar, Vedat, et al. "Adrenocorticotropic hormone and cortisol levels in athletes and sedentary subjects at rest and exhaustion: effects of magnesium supplementation." Biological trace element research 121.3 (2008): 215-220.
• Fry, Andrew C., et al. "Endocrine and performance responses to high volume training and amino acid supplementation in elite junior weightlifters." International journal of sport nutrition 3.3 (1993): 306-322.
• Golf, S. W., et al. "Plasma aldosterone, cortisol and electrolyte concentrations in physical exercise after magnesium supplementation." Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine 22.11 (1984): 717-722.
• Kraemer, William J., et al. "Cortitrol supplementation reduces serum cortisol responses to physical stress." Metabolism 54.5 (2005): 657-668.
• Lovallo, William R., et al. "Caffeine stimulation of cortisol secretion across the waking hours in relation to caffeine intake levels." Psychosomatic medicine 67.5 (2005): 734.
• Lovallo, William R., et al. "Cortisol responses to mental stress, exercise, and meals following caffeine intake in men and women." Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior 83.3 (2006): 441-447.
• Pan, Ying, et al. "Icariin attenuates chronic mild stress-induced dysregulation of the LHPA stress circuit in rats." Psychoneuroendocrinology 35.2 (2010): 272-283.
• Peters, E. M., et al. "Vitamin C supplementation attenuates the increases in circulating cortisol, adrenaline and anti-inflammatory polypeptides following ultramarathon running." International journal of sports medicine 22.07 (2001): 537-543.
• Smriga, Miro, et al. "Oral treatment with L-lysine and L-arginine reduces anxiety and basal cortisol levels in healthy humans." Biomedical Research 28.2 (2007): 85-90.
• Solati K, Heidari-Soureshjani S, Pocock L.. Effects and mechanisms of medicinal plants on stress hormone (cortisol): A systematic review. World Family Medicine. 2017; 15(9):117-123. DOI: 10.5742/MEWFM.2017.93115.
• Talbott SM, Talbott JA, Pugh M. Effect of Magnolia offcinalis and Phellodendron amurense (Relora (R)) on cortisol and psychological mood state in moderately stressed subjects. J Int Soc Sport Nutr. 2013;10.
• Wei SS, Yang HJ, Huang JW, Lu XP, Peng LF, Wang QG. Traditional herbal formula Sini Powder extract produces antidepressant-like effects through stress-related mechanisms in rats. Chinese journal of natural medicines. 2016;14(8):590-8.
• Williams, Alun G., et al. "Effects of resistance exercise volume and nutritional supplementation on anabolic and catabolic hormones." European journal of applied physiology 86.4 (2002): 315-321.
• Xing H, Zhang K, Zhang R, Shi H, Bi K, Chen X. Antidepressant-like effect of the water extract of the fixed  combination of Gardenia jasminoides, Citrus aurantium and Magnolia offcinalis in a rat model of chronic unpredictable mild stress. Phytomedicine : international journal of phytotherapy and phytopharmacology. 2015;22(13):1178-85.

Overlooked and Hushed Up?! The 10-20% Performance Gain From Short-Term Glucocorticoid ('Dex', 'Pred' & Co) Use

Even though their efficacy is still doubted by some doping researchers, the existing evidence leaves little doubt that glucocorticoid doping is as prevalent and efficient as it is risky (Duclos. 2010).

If you have read my "all about cortisol"-article from 2013, you belong to the handpicked elite of fitness enthusiasts, who understand that the glucocorticoid and/or its natural, i.e. cortisone, or artificial, i.e. dexamethasone and prednisone, cousins are not - as many people believe - generally bad for you. Rather than that, the allegedly fat building, muscle burning hormone(s) can, if elevated at the right times and not chronically, help you boost fat loss, strength and overall exercise performance. That's bogus? Well, I know that the vendors of so-called "cortisol-blockers" want to make you believe just that. The effects of the publicly downplayed doping practices in various sports and scientific evidence speak a very different language, though.

Chronically elevated glucocorticoids can occur in the early phase of overtraining:

Heart Rate Variability (HRV)

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In various sports synthetic Glucocorticoids (GC), which are widely prescribed and used as immunosuppressive and anti-inflammatory drugs (note: after a +30% increase in prescription rate over the last 20 years, 1% of the population is on GCs, today | Fardet. 2011), were and still are used strategically as performance enhancing drugs. That this (ab-)use of synthetic glucocorticoids is not yet another 'broscientific' practice based on hear-say, not scientific evidence has now, more than sixty years after the invention of prednisone, the most commonly prescribed oral GC (76.6 - 92%), been re-investigated by Australian researchers (Tacey. 2017). And their review, which was meant to explore the limited research into the metabolic response following exercise, subsequent to exogenous GC treatment in healthy volunteers, clearly indicates that "short-term [<7 days] GC administration is likely to improve performance" (Tacey. 2017).

Table 1: Study characteristics and results following short term GC administration; a = compared with placebo results, Shaded boxes = values not reported by article (Tacey. 2017)

Table 1 gives you an overview of the (as previously pointed out) limited research into the short-term effects of glucocorticoid administration in healthy (including athletic) populations.

Beware! Glucocorticoids don't have the candy-like side-effect profile of creatine or whey! 71% of patients who consume them chronically report side effects within the first 3 months of treatment. With treatment induced Cushing's syndrome (i.e. excess glucocorticoids) being able to trigger diabetes, osteoporosis, hypertension, increased lipid accumulation, immunosuppression, delayed wound healing, glaucoma, neuropsychiatric disorders and skeletal muscle myopathy. I am sure you want to avoid (ab-)using this drug for performance enhancing effects for more than the 7 days that were tested in the study at hand (note: it would also be stupid to do so, because, after the short period of proven benefits, your performance will go down the drain). If you have to take them for medical reasons, you should know that exercise has been shown to mitigate most if not all of the effects of chronic glucocorticoid treatment (Pinheiro. 2009).

As you can see without having to scrutinize the data, all but one study observed statistically significant beneficial effects on exercise performance ranging from increases in knee extension performance (K) over shuttle run performances (S) to general strength increases (force output | FO) and increased VO2max (that's what the studies where the table only states "increased" measured). To give you a better idea of what exactly happened in the studies I will briefly summarize the individual results of six of them for you:

• Arletaz et al. 2007: Ten recreational male athletes who had been randomized to oral prednisolone (60mg/day for 1 wk) treatment exhibited sign. improved cycling times (at 70-75% peak O2) significantly.
• Casuso et al. 2013: The ingestion of  2 × 2 mg of dexamethasone for five consecutive days increased the one-legged dynamic knee-extensor exercise time to exhaustion by 29% and the total running distance the 17 healthy, but probably (undisclosed) not regularly trained young men covered in the shuttle run test by 19%.
  

  

  Figure 1: Performance benefits of 2x2 mg of dexamethasone for five days (Casuso, et al. 2013).

• Le Panse, et al. 2009: Treatment with 50mg/day prednisone significantly increased the time to exhaustion (66.4 vs. 47.9, P < 0.01 | that's +39%) in a similar 75% VO2max cycling trial as it was used by Arletaz et al., albeit this time in recreational female athletes who had been cycling and/or running two to three times per week for at least 3 years.
  

  

  Figure 2: The study by Le Panse is interesting because it was done in female gymrats and because it shows the individuality of the response to prednisone (50mg/day) treatment (Le Panse. 2009).

  The results of this study are not just interesting because the subjects were (a) women and (b) representative of the average gymrat. They are also quite revealing because they show a sign. individuality - with one of the subjects (subject 6 in Figure 2) seeing no benefits at all and another one more than doubling her performance (subject 1 in Figure 2).
• Marquet et al. 1999: With (male) athletes (cycling, judo, volleyball, boxing, rugby, triathlon, basketball, soccer) and non-athletes as study subjects, Marquet's study unquestionably sticks out, not just because it allows us to tell whether the short-term administration, but also because the scientists tested both (a) a low dose (0.5mg/day) and (b) a high-dose (1.5mg/day) regimen.
  
  Each treatment, i.e. low- and high-dose, was administered for 5 days before a standardized test was conducted. A test that found quite a plethora of effects, but no consistent effects on the subjects' sleep, exhaustion during exercise, maximal O2 consumption (VO2max), ventilatory threshold, maximal blood lactate, rest and exercise blood pressures or relevant interactions with the subjects' training status (i.e. the effects were identical for athletes and non-athletes).

  

  Figure 3: The effects of low and high dose of dexamethasone on heart rate, blood glucose and aldosterone (the 'water retention hormone') in trained and untrained subjects (Marquet. 1999).

  What the administration of dexamethasone did do, however, was to significantly (a) decrease the subjects' heart rate at rest and during maximal exercise, (b) increase their blood glucose at rest and (c) decrease their blood glucose levels during exercise.
  
  In addition, sign. lower blood levels of ACTH, b-endorphin, cortisol and cortisol-binding globulin were observed in response to dexamethasone - changes that went hand in hand not with water retention, but rather with an increase in the diuretic natriuretic factor during exercise and lowered levels of the "water retention hormone" aldosterone.
• Nordsborg, et al. 2008: In response to 2 × 2 mg dexamethasone for 5 days, the scientists observed sign. increases in Na+, K+ pump subunits expression, a non-sign. increase in thigh blood flow during low-intensity exercise and an improved exercise performance for only 7 out of 9 subjects, recreationally active male subjects aged 24 ± 4 years.
• Zorgati, et al. (2014): In ten healthy, physically active (running/swimming or playing soccer three to five times per week for at least 3 years), male volunteers (20.6 ± 0.9 years), the administration of 60mg/day of prednisone for one week, the scientists observed an increase in absolute peak force of the dominant leg in the first 30 seconds of a hopping test designed to elicit the subject's maximal force development, as well as a decrease in basal and end-exercise plasma interleukin-6 and saliva DHEA (p < 0.01) and increases of interleukin-10 (p < 0.01).
  

  

  Figure 4: Absolute maximal force (Fmax) (means ± SD) during the first three 30-s hopping bouts (1, 2, 3), and during the fourth bout until exhaustion (4) after placebo (PLA) and prednisone (Cor) treatment (Zorgati. 2014).

  Interestingly enough, no increase in hopping endurance, or significant effect on blood lactate, TNF-alpha, or saliva testosterone was found.

If you are now asking yourselves, what happened to the sixth study by Collomp et al. (2007), don't worry. I have singled it out, because it is the only one that can tell us something about the usefulness or stupidity of glucocorticoid abuse outside of the low-to-no-training pre-contest week, for which the previously discussed study results indicate often-times game-changing endurance and - at least in some cases - relevant strength benefits.

Figure 5: Changes in cycling time to exhaustion and selected hormones (Collomp. 2007).

Unlike all other studies, Collomp's 2007 study assessed the effects of taking prednisone at 60mg/day during a regular one-week training period with 2h of standardized physical training per day in eight recreational male athletes, actively cycling and/or running 2–3 times/week for at least 3 years. Nevertheless, some of the results are "old news" and have been observed in one or several of the previously discussed studies as well:

• a significant endurance increase after one week on prednisolone which, on average, doubled the cycling times to exhaustion compared to placebo,
• an extreme individuality in the size of the benefits among the eight subjects

The decline in ACTH, DHEA, and free testosterone, as well as (not shown in Figur 5) prolactin, growth hormone, and TSH (based on previous studies you can expect FT4 and FT3 dropped, as well), on the other hand appears to be even more drastic in the peri-workout period during which it was measured in the study at hand. What this means or the long(er) term effects of glucocorticoid administration, on the other hand, is not 100% clear. Mostly, because the of "the complexity of the hormonal and metabolic responses to short-term glucocorticoid administration during exercise" (Collomp. 2007) and the questionable role the acute elevation of alleged markers of anabolism such as testosterone, or growth hormone will actually have on the exercise-induced adaptational response aka "your gains".

Believe it or not. Cortisone can decrease body fat levels | more.

So, what should I remember about "cortisol" or rather glucocorticoids and performance? Well, while their long-term administration has unquestionable negative side effects in both average Joes and Olympic athletes, the latter can significantly benefit from their short-term (5-7 days) low-dose (ab-)use - not just, but especially if they compete in sports where a 10-20% increase in endurance or strength endurance performance can make the difference between victory and defeat ... and let's be honest: the number of Olympic sports where this wouldn't be the case be counted on the fingers of one hand.

Furthermore, athletes who belong to the same group of hyper-responders as subject 8 or subject 1 in Le Panse (2009) would go from "zero to hero" within one week - or how else would you describe performance increases of 100% and more? Comment on Facebook!

References:

• Arlettaz, Alexandre, et al. "Effects of short-term prednisolone intake during submaximal exercise." Medicine and science in sports and exercise 39.9 (2007): 1672.
• Casuso, Rafael A., et al. "Glucocorticoids improve high-intensity exercise performance in humans." European journal of applied physiology 114.2 (2014): 419-424.
• Duclos, Martine. "Glucocorticoids: a doping agent?." Endocrinology and metabolism clinics of North America 39.1 (2010): 107-126.
• Fardet, L., I. Petersen, and I. Nazareth. "Description of oral glucocorticoid prescriptions in general population." La Revue de medecine interne/fondee... par la Societe nationale francaise de medecine interne 32.10 (2011): 594-599.
• Le Panse, Bénédicte, et al. "Short-term glucocorticoid intake improves exercise endurance in healthy recreationally trained women." European journal of applied physiology 107.4 (2009): 437-443.
• Marquet, P., et al. "Dexamethasone in resting and exercising men. I. Effects on bioenergetics, minerals, and related hormones." Journal of Applied Physiology 87.1 (1999): 175-182.
• Nordsborg, Nikolai, et al. "Effect of dexamethasone on skeletal muscle Na+, K+ pump subunit specific expression and K+ homeostasis during exercise in humans." The Journal of physiology 586.5 (2008): 1447-1459.
• Pinheiro, Carlos Hermano da Justa, et al. "Exercise prevents cardiometabolic alterations induced by chronic use of glucocorticoids." Arquivos brasileiros de cardiologia 93.4 (2009): 400-408.
• Zorgati, Houssem, et al. "Ergogenic and metabolic effects of oral glucocorticoid intake during repeated bouts of high-intensity exercise." Steroids 86 (2014): 10-15.

Take Control of Your Cortisol Levels - Use These 5x Stress-Modulating Diet, Lifestyle & Supplementation Rules Wisely

Always remember: You want to control cortisol, not eradicate it if you want to melt away your belly fat, beat your personal bests and feel just great!

As a SuppVersity reader, you belong to the chosen few who know that cortisol is not the villain as which it is stigmatized in the fitness industry (obviously to sell supplements | learn more). Rather than being "bad" or "good", cortisol, a glucocorticoid, i.e. a hormone that keeps your blood glucose stable, and potent anti-inflammatory agent, is more vital than any "vitamin" - in spite of not having the magic "vita" in its name.

Whether the effects of this vital adrenal hormone are going to be "bad" or "good" for you, depends mostly on whether it rises and falls according to its natural 24-h rhythm or is chronically low (often labeled adrenal insufficiency) or chronically high.

If you want to mess with your cortisol rhythm overtraining is exactly what you "need"!

Heart Rate Variablity (HRV)

ABEL Sports Test + More

Overtraining & Undereating

Calculate your Energy Intake!

Overtraining W/ Only 25min/day?

Reinvent Your Training!

Now your diet alone will probably not suffice to induce one or the other state of chronically messed up cortisol (unless you eat (a) almost nothing while training like a maniac for weeks ⇉ low cortisol; or (b) too much of a typically Western diet ⇉ high cortisol). And yet, it is still a good idea to know more about the diet ⇆ cortisol interaction(s) to be able to maintain hormonal homeostasis, and the SuppVersity is obviously the right place to learn all about it.

Figure 1: Overview of the three areas of your physiology that are directly affected by the levels and rhythm of cortisol.

With the ever-increasing number of "functional" foods boasting of being able to modify health-relevant parameters, including your cortisol level and thus your ability to, through its
multipronged action, stabilize or mess with your blood levels of glucose, to stimulate your tissue's
regenerative processes and to inhibit inflammation in each and every organ of your body.

Figure 2: This is how cortisol is "made" in your body (Stachowicz. 2016). In theory, you can influence its concentration by modifying this cascade at any point.

As Stachowicz, et al. point out in a recent review of the literature they published in the peer-reviewed journal Eur Food Res Technol (Stachowicz. 2016), diet is obviously not the only factor that influences our cortisol levels. Of at least as much importance are "[f]actors like stressful work, personal problems, [and] intensive training" , which "can lead to long-term sustained, excessive concentration of this hormone, affecting formation of metabolic disorders such as insulin resistance, increased blood pressure, abnormal bone regeneration and collagen synthesis or calcium deficiency in the organism" (ibid.). Against that background, it is hardly surprising that various groups of the society try to modulate their cortisol levels in ways they consider healthy (again: low is not healthy!) by supplementing or eating / avoiding certain foods that contain nutrients which regulate steroid hormones homeostasis.

In the short term, e.g. strategic overreaching, your body can cope with the exercise induced release of cortisol, but when over-reaching becomes over-training you run the risk of plumetting into the deep dark valley of unsurmountable fatigue.

Excursion - Exercise and cortisol: Athletes experience substantial increases of cortisol and adrenaline during intense workouts. That's normal and even necessary to (a) keep your blood glucose levels stable and (b) train at high(est) intensities. In fact, studies have shown that in athletes with higher motivation and orientation on the success, levels of these hormones were higher than those of other players. As Stachowicz, et al. point out "[t]hey also generally achieve better results" (Obmiński. 2009). On the other hand, studies show that people who experience mental fatigue experience limited activity of pituitary gland and sympathetic nervous system - in other words low cortisol levels (or rather the absence of appropriate spikes in response to e.g. exercise and other stressors).

And that rightly so! After all, Stachowicz et al. (2016) rightly point out, a "balanced diet with optional supplementation is one of the important factors determining the high physical and mental capacity of organism" (ibid) - and this goes for everyone from the frail elderly over the hobby- and pro-athletes to the stressed manager or teacher, who are all "particularly exposed to abnormal secretion, metabolism and transport of hormones, including cortisol" (ibid.) - people who will probably know about the effects of chronic stress:

"It was shown that in stressful situations appetite for sweet and fat meals rises, probably because of their high rewarding character (Zellner. 2005). Consumption of meals induces [an] increase in cortisol level. This response is strongly marked in men than in women. Influence of kind of macronutrients in taken food on cortisol concentration was investigated in many [types of research], but the results are not clear" (Stachowicz. 2016). 

One of the best known (and most logical) effectors of cortisol production is the content and type of carbohydrates in your diet - especially if you're not a sedentary slob; after all, cortisol's main function as a glucocorticoid is to counter hypoglycemia.

• Rule #1 (esp. for easily fatigued athletes) - Eat enough (or no) carbs: Eat either no carbs at all (ketogenic diet) or enough carbs before, during and after training to prevent hypoglycemic conditions (click here to learn why this will also help to stay lean) and thus an abnormally high intra- and post-workout spike of hydrocortisone in blood while the consumption of liquids (studies show that this takes some carbs, i.e. 7% vs. just 1.5% in the intra-workout beverage | cf. Ihalainen, 2014 vs. Caris, 2014).
• Rule #2 - Don't believe everything the supplement industry claims: As Stachowicz et al. rightly point out, the impact of around training protein, glutamine, arginine or branched-chain amino acids (BCAA), on the other hand, "is not clear and requires testing on large groups of athletes of various disciplines" (Stachowicz. 2016).
  
  What has been shown to work is tryptophan, which is a precursor of serotonin, that will effectively ameliorate the cortisol level increase, during and after workouts, but its potential side effects (esp. performance decrements) have not been well-studied, yet. The same must be said of phosphatidylserine and phosphatidic acid, which have been shown to (a) normalize the stress reactivity of hypothalamus-pituaryadrenal-axis in chronically stressed men and to reduce the cortisol response to exercise in a sponsored trial in which it was administered at dosages of 400 mg/day for 6 weeks - the total number of studies to support PS as a useful supplement for anyone from manager to athlete and from elderly to toddler, however is low; oftentimes, there's sponsorship involved and long-term studies or studies that would evaluate the effect of cortisol control on the adaptational response to exercise are missing.
• Rule #3 - Don't overrate its benefits but get enough protein (1.6-2.2 g/kg per day): As explained in rule #2, there's no evidence that simply adding more protein to your diet is going to help you control cortisol. In fact, eating too much protein and too little fat and carbs may chronically elevate the glucocorticoid, because it has to keep the production of glucose from amino acids in the liver, i.e. gluconeogenesis, working. That adequate protein intakes are necessary, on the other hand, is a logical consequence of the role of serine, taurine, and other amino acids play in the control of the balance and optimal function of your hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal-axis.
• Rule #4 - Optimize your sleep by sleep hygiene and (optional) supplements: By optimizing your sleep you can restore a normal and healthy circadian rhythm and thus battle what makes cortisol a problem for so many in our society directly. How's that? Well, as previously highlighted, it's not the cortisol spikes you experience in the AM and during and after workouts, but chronically elevated (or depleted) levels of cortisol and spikes that occur untimely (e.g. the "2AM wake-up call", when your cortisol rises way too early and you cannot sleep longer than until 1-3 AM).
  

  

  Figure 3: Optimal sleep, melatonin and cortisol patterns are mutually dependent in health and disease - if you mess up one with the way you behave / live and/or supplements you mess up all (Glickman. 2010).

  Next to using earplugs, a blindfold (or curtains to make sure light doesn't disturb your sleep), reducing your (blue) light exposure in the evening, and using a non-stressing alarm to tell you that it's time to go to bed, a sleep tracker to access whether your intervention is successful, your circadian rhythm restoration program may involve: (1) no caffeine, coffee, or other stimulants in the 6h window before bed (some people will have to extend this window even further); (2) GABA at doses of 100-500mg before bed (don't take more or you may faint); if you cannot tolerate GABA, try taurine, instead, it will also enter the brain and act on the GABA receptor (Song. 2003); (3) melatonin at dosages you will have to figure out yourself (start with 1-3mg and ramp up until you sleep well and wake up refreshed, not groggy, which is usually a side effect of taking (a) too much or (b) the by no means recommendable time-released melatonin preparations).  
• Rule #5 - Strategically supplement with... In contrast to the previous rules, rule #5 is "optional" or facilitative. There's mixed evidence for some vitamins, namely vitamin C (500-1000 mg), vitamin E (400 IU+), vitamin D (>2,000 IU), as well as high doses of vitamin B1, B2, and niacin, which are involved in metabolism and production of cortisol, can lower the glucocorticoid response to exercise. 

  

  Figure 4: Sign. associations between PWO hormone levels and lean mass, as well as fiber size, increases (West. 2012) - they exist, but the largest and best study to investigate them clearly shows: It's cortisol that predicts lean mass gains (left) and GH that predicts the growth of individual fibers. High post-workout testosterone, however, predicts ... nothing (learn more) .

  At least for the former (vitamin C and vitamin E), however, it has also been shown that it will impair the exercise-induced adaptational processes, i.e. improved conditioning, muscle strength, and size when taken chronically. No wonder, if you think about the previously outlined beneficial effects of your body's most potent anti-inflammatory homrone, cortisol, (see Figure 4, too) on the regenerative process after workouts.
  
  The beneficial effects of a natural (controlled) cortisol response to exercise are something you should also keep in mind when using magnesium supplements which have been shown to blunt the cortisol increase to physical exercise in Golf et al. (1984) 32 years ago. Since newer studies were not generally able to confirm Golf's findings, though, I wouldn't be too afraid of (or rely too much on) magnesium's ability to lower your cortisol levels in non-(mg)-deficiency situations. That's particularly true in view of the fact that Cinar et al. saw a sign. increase in cortisol in response to a similar combination of magnesium supplementation (10 mg/kg b.w.) and physical activity in 2008. Stachowicz, et al. are thus right to point out that "[t]he impact of magnesium supplementation on cortisol levels in athletes is not clear and needs further investigation" (Stachowicz. 2016).
  

  

  Figure 5: While we do have evidence that boron will have opposing effects (vs. magnesium or the previously mentioned vitamins on cortisol), the existing evidence is far from being conclusive (Naghii. 2011).

  The same must be said of the cortisol modulating effects of a former star on the bodybuilding supplement sky that has been largely forgotten today: boron. While Naghii et al. (2011) confirmed relatively recently that a daily morning use of preparation containing 11.6 mg of boron, just after 1 week, results in increase in cortisol and free testosterone, dihydrotestosterone (DHT) and vitamin D while decreasing estradiol levels, we are far from being able to call boron a proven ergogenic - also because its long-term benefits appeared to be zero in most exercise-related long-term studies with relevant outcome parameters (not hormones, but gainz in performance, size or strength). The same must be said of fish oil, which has been shown to reduce perceived stress, green tea (EGCG), which is supposed to inhibit the activity of 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 that converts cortisone to cortisol, and betaine with one study backing its anti-cortisol effect in trained individuals (Apicella. 2013).
  
  Long-term data assessing its safety, and potential detrimental effects on testosterone is also lacking on the effectiveness of licorice, one of the few supplements of which we have reliable evidence that it affects (increases) cortisol. 

Cardio - Only significantly "too much" can hurt your circadian cortisol rhythm, but if it does, it trigger muscle loss, fatique and (in a caloric surplus) even fat gain | learn more.

So what's the verdict? Get your ducks in a row by following rules #1-4. If you still feel (or even better have evidence from multiple cortisol swap tests in 24h) that you cortisol rhythm is messed up (see Figure 3 for what you should look out), try using supplements like magnesium, green tea or b-vitamins to lower and boron or licorice to increase it strategically.

Needless to say that the latter will require proper timing with the supplements that lower cortisol being taken at times when you want cortisol to decrease (PM) and supplements that increase the glucocorticoid being taken at times when you want it to increase.

Why the timing? If you'd read the whole article and not just the bottom line you wouldn't be asking that, because you'd should know by now that you want a natural cycle of peaks and troughs, not chronically high or low levels (don't use supplements that block your body's ability to activate / deactivate cortisone <> cortisol completely, unless you've good medical reasons, to) of this important adrenal glucoregulatory + anti-inflammatory hormone  | Comment!

References:

• Caris, Aline V., et al. "Carbohydrate and glutamine supplementation modulates the Th1/Th2 balance after exercise performed at a simulated altitude of 4500 m." Nutrition 30.11 (2014): 1331-1336.
• Cinar, Vedat, et al. "Adrenocorticotropic hormone and cortisol levels in athletes and sedentary subjects at rest and exhaustion: effects of magnesium supplementation." Biological trace element research 121.3 (2008): 215-220.
• Glickman, Gena. "Circadian rhythms and sleep in children with autism." Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews 34.5 (2010): 755-768.
• Golf, S. W., et al. "Plasma aldosterone, cortisol and electrolyte concentrations in physical exercise after magnesium supplementation." Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine 22.11 (1984): 717-722.
• Hellhammer, Juliane, et al. "A soy-based phosphatidylserine/phosphatidic acid complex (PAS) normalizes the stress reactivity of hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal-axis in chronically stressed male subjects: a randomized, placebo-controlled study." Lipids in health and disease 13.1 (2014): 1.
• Ihalainen, Johanna K., et al. "Effects of Carbohydrate Ingestion on Acute Leukocyte, Cortisol, and Interleukin-6 Response in High-Intensity Long-Distance Running." The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research 28.10 (2014): 2786-2792.
• Naghii, Mohammad Reza, et al. "Comparative effects of daily and weekly boron supplementation on plasma steroid hormones and proinflammatory cytokines." Journal of Trace Elements in Medicine and Biology 25.1 (2011): 54-58.
• Obmiński, Zbigniew. "Pre-And Post-Start Hormone Levels In Blood As An Indicator Of Psycho-Physiological Load With Junior Judo Competitors." Polish Journal of Sport & Tourism 16.3 (2009).
• Stachowicz, Marta, and Anna Lebiedzińska. "The effect of diet components on the level of cortisol." European Food Research and Technology (2016): 1-9.
• Song, Zhilin, and Glenn I. Hatton. "Taurine and the control of basal hormone release from rat neurohypophysis." Experimental neurology 183.2 (2003): 330-337.
• Zellner, Debra A., et al. "Food selection changes under stress." Physiology & Behavior 87.4 (2006): 789-793.

Low Grade Metabolic Acidosis May Eat Away Your Bones and Blow Up Your Belly Via Empowering Glucocorticoids!

The way we eat and live is not just obesogenic it is also acidogenic... or is the former just a consequence of the latter? 

I've written about the nasty effects of low grade metabolic acidosis which include calcium loss and brittle bones, nitrogen / protein loss and decreased protein synthesis, impaired growth hormone and IGF-1 production and more in a 2013 SuppVersity Science Round-Up (read it).

For you, as a SuppVersity veteran who's read this and related articles, it should thus not be surprising that scientists from the German Aerospace Center in Cologne were now able to establish a new, mechanistic link between the "long-term ingestion of habitually acidifying western diets may constitute an independent risk factor for bone degradation and cardiometabolic diseases" (Buehlmeier. 2015).

As Judith Buehlmeier and her colleagues point out, we have long been aware of the ill effects of low-grade metabolic acidosis (LGMA), as induced by high dietary acid load or sodium chloride (NaCl) intake and a lack of alkaline foods and nutrients in the average Western diet. What has hitherto not been fully elucidated is the underlying mechanisms, which is not as simple as the dissolving tooth in a glass of coke would suggest.

You can learn more about bicarbonate and pH-buffers at the SuppVersity

The Hazards of Acidosis

Build Bigger Legs W/ Bicarbonate

HIIT it Hard W/ NaCHO3

Creatine + BA = Perfect Match

Bicarb Buffers Creatine

Alkalosis Boosts Muscle Activity

In their latest study, the researchers from the German Aerospace Center in Cologne and their colleagues from the Universities of Bonn and Heidelberg do now present the first convincing evidence that the previously cited catabolic / anti-anabolic effects of chronic low-grade acidosis (LGMA) are triggered by interactions of the acid–base balance with the metabolism of glucocorticoids (GC). In said, study, the researchers "aimed to investigate GC activity/metabolism under alkaline supplementation and NaCl-induced LGMA" in eight young, healthy, normal-weight men who participated in two crossover designed interventional studies.

Figure 1: Correcting a diet-induced low grade metabolic acidosis with K-bicarbonate reduces the nitrogen loss of 750mg - 1000mg per day (per 60kg BW) in post- menopausal women in a prev. study (Frassetto. 1997)

• In Study A, two 10-day high NaCl diet (32 g/d) periods were conducted, one supplemented with 90 mmol KHCO3/day.
   
• In Study B, participants received a high and a low NaCl diet (31 vs. 3 g/day), each for 14 days. During low NaCl, the diet was moderately acidified by replacement of a bicarbonate-rich mineral water (consumed during high NaCl) with a non-alkalizing drinking water. 

In repeatedly collected 24-h urine samples, potentially bioactive GCs (urinary-free cortisol / free cortisone), as well as tetrahydrocortisol (THF), 5a-THF, and tetrahydrocortisone (THE), were analyzed.

Even Low Grade Acidosis Will Increase Your Diabetes Risk | learn more!

Beware! It does not take much to mess you up! A quantitative analysis of the data from the study at hand shows that even increases of dietary acid loads in the magnitude of only 30 mEq/d, which drive the renal net acid excretion into a range that is commonly seen in people on the standard Western diet (60–70 mEq/d), suffice to affect glucocorticoid activity in ways that may ruin your bone, heart and muscle health. In that, the main offenders are grains, not meats. Grains contribute an estimated 38% to the net acid load of the avg. Westerner (Sebastian. 2002).

A brief glimpse at the glucocorticoid levels in the urine of the subjects (see Figure 2) shows that with supplementation of 90 mmol KHCO3, the marker of total adrenal GC secretion dropped (p = 0.047) and potentially bioactive-free GCs were reduced (p = 0.003).

Figure 2: aily adrenal cortisol secretion as indexed by the sum of excretion rates of the 3 major urinary glucocorticoid (GC) metabolites tetrahydrocortisol, 5a-tetrahydrocortisol, and tetrahydrocortisone (THF + aTHF + THE) as well as excretions of potentially bioactive-free GCs (UFF + UFE | Buehlmeier. 2015)

This is particularly interesting if we also take into account that in Study B, the GC secretion and potentially bioactivefree GCs did not exhibit the expected fall with NaCl-reduction as net acid excretion was raised by 30 mEq/d. In conjunction study A + B do thus underline the important role of alkalizing agents like bicarbonate or potassium - irrespective of the total intake of NaCl, of which the study at hand confirms that it is part of the problem. Its ill effects, however, appear to be mediated mainly, if not exclusively, via the acidifying effects of chloride.

Bottom line: As the authors point out, their study is the first to provide convincing evidence that the ill effects of chronic low-grade metabolic acidosis are mediated via enhanced glucocorticoid activity and secretion. In that, the pro-acidic effects of NaCl, as well as the lack of alkalizing foods and nutrients in the Western diet are the main motors of dietary induced glucocorticoid elevations.

Inactivity amplifies the ill effect of glucocorticoids on muscle loss by up to 213% (Ferrando. 1999).

These elevations are - in spite of being still in the physiological range - significant enough to compromise bone quality (Bedford. 2010; Shi. 2015), cardiometabolic health & diabetes (Prodam. 2013; Qi, 2007), and protein turnover (Frassetto. 1997 | see Figure 1; Buehlmeier. 2012), and appear to be particularly unfavorable under conditions of physical inactivity (Ferrando. 1999 | see Figure on the right). Reason enough for the authors to conclude that "[a]ccordingly, higher dietary acid loads may, in the long run, constitute an independent GC-driven musculoskeletal and cardiometabolic risk factor related with western dietary habits" (Buehlmeier. 2015) | Comment!

References:

• Bedford, Jennifer L., and Susan I. Barr. "The relationship between 24-h urinary cortisol and bone in healthy young women." International journal of behavioral medicine 17.3 (2010): 207-215.
• Buehlmeier, Judith, et al. "Alkaline salts to counteract bone resorption and protein wasting induced by high salt intake: results of a randomized controlled trial." The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism 97.12 (2012): 4789-4797.
• Ferrando, Arny A., et al. "Inactivity Amplifies the Catabolic Response of Skeletal Muscle to Cortisol 1." The Journal Of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism 84.10 (1999): 3515-3521.
• Frassetto, L., R. Curtis Morris Jr, and A. Sebastian. "Potassium bicarbonate reduces urinary nitrogen excretion in postmenopausal women." The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism 82.1 (1997): 254-259.
• Qi, Dake, and Brian Rodrigues. "Glucocorticoids produce whole body insulin resistance with changes in cardiac metabolism." American Journal of Physiology-Endocrinology and Metabolism 292.3 (2007): E654-E667.
• Prodam, Flavia, et al. "High-end normal adrenocorticotropic hormone and cortisol levels are associated with specific cardiovascular risk factors in pediatric obesity: a cross-sectional study." BMC medicine 11.1 (2013): 44.
• Sebastian, Anthony, et al. "Estimation of the net acid load of the diet of ancestral preagricultural Homo sapiens and their hominid ancestors." The American journal of clinical nutrition 76.6 (2002): 1308-1316.
• Shi, Lijie, et al. "Higher glucocorticoid secretion in the physiological range is associated with lower bone strength at the proximal radius in healthy children: importance of protein intake adjustment." Journal of Bone and Mineral Research 30.2 (2015): 240-248.