Drinking more than two cups of coffee each day may worsen endometriosis and breast pain, say researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. Dr Daniel W Cramer and his colleagues found that women who drank the most coffee had 70% higher levels of a hormone called estradiol, a natural form of estrogen, during the first five days of their menstrual cycle. According to the researchers, elevated levels of this hormone “would not be beneficial for women who for example have endometriosis, breast pain and family histories of breast or ovarian cancer, especially arising premenopausally.” Kramer recommends, “Such women should be discouraged from consuming more than two cups of coffee per day.”
SOURCE/REFERENCE: Fertility and Sterility 2001; 76:723-729
