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Can ECA raise cortisol levels due to the caffeine?

stxnas

Well-known member
I have read some articles that state caffeine can raise cortisol levels, but the articles never state how much caffeine it takes. If so would this make it beneficial to stack ECA with a cortisol blocker? It just seems that ECA could be counterproductive in the long run.

I tried doing some searches on this, but I didn't find anything about it. This leads me to believe that there is something that I'm missing here as I can usually find the answers that I'm looking for via the search button. Any ideas/theories? Shoot at will!
 
stxnas said:
I have read some articles that state caffeine can raise cortisol levels, but the articles never state how much caffeine it takes. If so would this make it beneficial to stack ECA with a cortisol blocker? It just seems that ECA could be counterproductive in the long run.

I tried doing some searches on this, but I didn't find anything about it. This leads me to believe that there is something that I'm missing here as I can usually find the answers that I'm looking for via the search button. Any ideas/theories? Shoot at will!
Click to expand...

Hence the product name LEAN Extreme :). LX would probably be the way to go and it really is a helpful product while on any sort of cutting cycle since even caloric restriction can cause some problems in that department. Couple caloric restriction (below maintenance) with spiked cortisol levels and you have a recipe for muscle loss.
 
stxnas said:
I have read some articles that state caffeine can raise cortisol levels, but the articles never state how much caffeine it takes. If so would this make it beneficial to stack ECA with a cortisol blocker? It just seems that ECA could be counterproductive in the long run.

I tried doing some searches on this, but I didn't find anything about it. This leads me to believe that there is something that I'm missing here as I can usually find the answers that I'm looking for via the search button. Any ideas/theories? Shoot at will!
Click to expand...

You might can find some references on Par's board they are the chemical, pubmed, research wizards. ECA over time fatique the adrenal glands. That will definately elevate cortisol levels and if I remember correctlly its not very good on Leptin.

LakeMount made a good suggestion with Lean Extreme.
 
cortisol problems do not occur ovrenight, but after weeks to months of over training, overworking, excessive stress, etc etc... thats why it is imperitave to take a diet supplement or product with high dosages on a "cycle" 4 weeks on 2 off.... when you have high amounts of caffeinie (dosage varies per person), your body uses the caffeine instead of the adrenaline, so your adrenal glands stop producing and cortisol is the result to manage the stress....
taking a caffeine products not gonna hurt, many cortisol products might be bs... more importantly... once awhile skip the stimulants and relax
 
butabi said:
cortisol problems do not occur ovrenight, but after weeks to months of over training, overworking, excessive stress, etc etc... thats why it is imperitave to take a diet supplement or product with high dosages on a "cycle" 4 weeks on 2 off.... when you have high amounts of caffeinie (dosage varies per person), your body uses the caffeine instead of the adrenaline, so your adrenal glands stop producing and cortisol is the result to manage the stress....
taking a caffeine products not gonna hurt, many cortisol products might be bs... more importantly... once awhile skip the stimulants and relax
Click to expand...

Actually caffeine CAUSES adrenaline to be released, which also has an anti-catabolic effect as glucose is quickly released into the blood as a fight or flight mechanism.


The mode of action of caffeine on catecholamine release from perfused adrenal glands of cat.

Yamada Y, Nakazato Y, Ohga A.

Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan.

1 Adrenaline and noradrenaline secretion induced by caffeine was investigated in the perfused cat adrenal glands. 2 Caffeine (10-80 mM) caused a dose-dependent increase in both adrenaline and noradrenaline secretion when applied for 1 min and 10 min after replacing Ca2+ with 10(-5)M EGTA in the perfusion solution. The ratio of adrenaline to noradrenaline was about 1:1. Mg2+ and/or Ca2+ inhibited the response to caffeine. 3 When caffeine (40 mM) was repeatedly applied in the absence of extracellular Ca2+, the secretory response almost disappeared but only at the second challenge with caffeine. However, the response was partially restored after readmission of Ca2+ (2.2 mM) and was augmented after the readmission of Ca2+ with ouabain (10(-5) M). 4 Caffeine-induced secretion of adrenaline and noradrenaline increased with the increase in the preloaded concentration of Ca2+ and attained a maximum at 16 mM Ca2+. 5 During perfusion with Ca2+-free Locke solution containing hexamethonium (10(-3)M), acetylcholine (10(-4)M) caused increases in both adrenaline and noradrenaline secretions with a ratio of about 1:2. The secretory responses were partially inhibited by preceding stimulation with exposure to caffeine (80 mM). 6 These results suggest that caffeine mobilizes Ca2+ from an intracellular storage site that may not be entirely the same as that linked to muscarinic receptors, and causes an increase in both adrenaline and noradrenaline secretion from cat adrenal chromaffin cells.
 
eca

I've always noticed that I gain fat on the sides of my stomach when i'm taking eca on a daily basis, (but not when taking caffeine alone) and i've read that high cortisol levels can lead to increased fat storage in the abdominal area. So based on this, I would say that ephedrine, not caffeine significantly raises cortisol levels.
 
So for instance if taking an EC stack would it be beneficial to also use a cortisol blocker such as lean xtreme
 
I have in my head above 200mg of caffeine increases cortisol. I think this was covered years ago when the eca stack was popular. Not sure if that's the correct #. I think a cortisol blocker would be a good idea. I try to keep my caffeine tolerance low so I dont have to take much to get a high.
 
I figured this would be a good place to make a note of this...There was a period of time a few years ago where I was feeling tired often, anyway I got a full hormonal panel and cortisol was included on the test. Turns out pretty much everything was in good ranges with the exception of my cortisol which was at an almost nonexistent level. I got it retested and again it came out to something like 4x less than the minimum range. I wasn't on any supplement other than regular food at the time, and honestly I noticed no difference in my ability to put on muscle during that time, it wasn't like the low cortisol allowed me to just pack on weight. My reason for saying this is because I think that people make a huge issue out of cortisol levels when they're really only a problem if you're significantly over the max range for an extended period of time.
 
Good point. Too low of cortisol levels will hurt you. Just like low levels of estrogen, DHT or testosterone are bad. Lowering levels of cortisol back to normal when they are high is the goal. Morning and during a workout those cortisol levels rise. Also they are high pct but you never want to eliminate cortisol.
 
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