Ray Peat on Cortisol

The costly adaptations of serotonin production

"Various types of stress increase the production of serotonin and various pituitary hormones, leading to adaptive changes in the body, but at the cost of inflammation and degeneration. Studies on several pituitary hormones have shown aging-accelerating effects that lead to edema, inflammation, fibrosis, and reduced lifespan. The experiments by W. D. Denckla, which demonstrate the strong life-extending effect of removing the pituitary gland while supplementing thyroid and glucocorticoid hormones, suggest the possibilities in finding ways to prevent the overproduction of serotonin and the associated hormones and cytokines."

September 2019 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

The influence of cysteine on thyroid function during stress and hunger

"Cysteine, an amino acid abundant in muscle and liver tissue, blocks the synthesis of thyroid hormone. When we are starving or under stress, cortisone causes these protein-rich tissues to break down. If metabolism continued at a normal rate, stress or hunger would quickly destroy us. However, the cysteine released from muscles inhibits the thyroid, so metabolism slows down."

Nutrition For Women

Adaptive hypothyroidism triggered by stress and intense training

"Cortisone also inhibits the thyroid. Any form of stress, including intense physical exertion, leads to this protective slowing of metabolism. The slow heartbeat of runners is largely the result of this adaptive hypothyroidism."

Nutrition For Women

The different effects of progesterone and cortisone on blood sugar, brain stability, and brain aging

"Although progesterone and cortisone both raise blood sugar and stabilize lysosomes, their effects on the brain are very different: in high doses, progesterone acts as a sedative and anesthetic, while cortisone is stimulating, and cortisone causes changes in the brain that resemble the aging process."

Nutrition For Women

The adrenal glands' response to inflammation and stress hormones

"When the body senses inflammation or other stress (possibly by detecting changes in blood sugar, lactic acid, carbon dioxide, or all three), the adrenal glands release anti-stress hormones, including adrenaline and cortisone (provided these glands are not exhausted or under-supplied). Both adrenaline and cortisone can raise blood sugar to meet the increased demand."

Nutrition For Women

The effect of cortisone on protein conversion and immunity

"Cortisone stimulates the conversion of protein into sugar, and since there are no stored proteins (except for small amounts circulating in the blood), this means cortisone begins converting the organism itself into fuel for the problem area. In acute emergencies, lymphatic tissues shrink first, which is acceptable because they can be restored after the organism recovers and their function — immunity — partly relies on a longer timescale of days to weeks. However, if these tissues are permanently depleted by chronic stress or malnutrition, infections are more likely to be fatal, as seen in old age or poor populations."

Nutrition For Women

Selye's classification of steroids: anti- and proinflammatory

"Selye classifies steroids as anti- and proinflammatory. Inflammation is a relatively nonspecific and hopefully local reaction intended to isolate the problem if it is a toxin or infection. Cortisol is a typical anti-inflammatory hormone;"

Nutrition For Women

The protective role of pantothenic acid against stress effects

"Pantothenic acid was recently recognized in very high doses as protective against stress, even when an animal's adrenal glands had been removed. Since this nutrient is needed for insulin breakdown, I believe part of its anti-stress effect results from minimizing hypoglycemia and thereby reducing the required amount of cortisone."

Nutrition For Women

The potential of vitamin A to counterbalance the immunosuppressive effect of cortisone

"Vitamin A apparently can help mitigate the immunosuppression caused by cortisone."

Nutrition For Women

Osteoporosis, diabetes, and mineral loss related to cortisone

"Osteoporosis and diabetes are often part of Cushing's syndrome and also occur more frequently after menopause. Cortisone therapy (even when applied topically to the skin) can cause a loss of minerals."

Nutrition For Women

Chronic stress and the role of low blood sugar in diabetes

"Animal experiments have shown that cortisone can cause diabetes, apparently by damaging the pancreas, and it is suspected that chronic stress (which can be triggered by low blood sugar) may be a factor in the development of diabetes."

Nutrition For Women

Dealing with stress-related illnesses using progesterone and vitamins instead of cortisone

"Stress diseases typically have a dominant allergic aspect and respond to steroids. Cortisone is used medically but has side effects that could be avoided by using progesterone (although medical progesterone usually contains allergenic solvents and preservatives like phenol). Niacin, vitamin A, vitamin C, etc., promote the production of progesterone and therefore often help with stress diseases, even if the substances produced themselves are somewhat allergenic."

Nutrition For Women

The effect of thyroid and progesterone on protein synthesis and lactate oxidation

"The relevant effects of the thyroid (especially in combination with progesterone to promote tissue response to the thyroid and block cortisone production) consist of stimulating protein synthesis and preventing lactate formation – or promoting its oxidation, either by the tumor itself or by other tissues, to prevent its entry into the Cori cycle for gluconeogenesis."

Nutrition For Women

Muscle atrophy from stress and cortisone during physical exertion

"If exercise causes too much stress and too little muscle activity, the muscles will atrophy due to the effect of cortisone, as it shifts amino acid metabolism toward glucose production."

Nutrition For Women

Athletic training, stress hormones, and thyroid function

"It is known that athletic training slows the pulse. Cortisone, produced by stress, inhibits the thyroid. (With low thyroid function, less oxygen is needed, which is a useful adaptation to increase endurance.) These hormonal changes are now known to cause infertility in both men and women."

Nutrition For Women

Cortisol levels and inflammation after menopause

"Suddenly, around the time of menopause, cortisol is elevated, presumably as a compensation for the lost stabilizing effects of progesterone as well as for the increasing inflammatory processes due to the lower body temperature."

November 2020 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Aromatase activity and its hormonal effects during menopause

"Aromatase, the enzyme that produces estrogen, is present in muscles, fat tissue, blood vessels, and many other tissues, and its activity is increased by cortisol and decreased by progesterone. The altered activity of these two steroids during menopause may explain the sudden rise in degenerative diseases, inflammation, depression, and so on."

November 2020 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

The effects of menopause on respiratory and circulatory health

"Respiratory and circulatory problems increase with menopause, corresponding to the rise in inflammatory cytokines and cortisol as well as the decline in progesterone and thyroid hormone. Both the thyroid and progesterone are thermogenic and lower estrogen levels."

November 2020 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Thymus gland atrophy: causes and regenerative agents

"Factors that cause thymus gland atrophy include cortisol and other glucocorticoid hormones, estrogen, prostaglandins, polyunsaturated fatty acids, lipid peroxidation, nitric oxide, endotoxin, hypoglycemia, and ionizing radiation. Progesterone and thyroid hormone support the restoration of the thymus gland by providing protection against all these atrophy-inducing factors. Increasing the sugar content in the diet can correct some of the metabolic changes of aging."

November 2016 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Stress, metabolic energy, and system integration

"The stimulation of CRH production by histamine, serotonin, endorphins, IL-1, nitric oxide, and/or estrogen leads to the activation of complex and appropriate anti-stress responses in good health. However, when stress is very intense or prolonged, or when nutrition has been inadequate, all these activating signals, CRH itself, and the anti-stress glucocorticoids can produce effects that are no longer integrated into the organism’s functions as it faces its problems, causing symptoms and eventually degenerative processes and aging. This failure of integration is almost always the result of insufficient metabolic energy."

May 2019 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Factors for healthier pregnancies and a better life after birth

"The main factors that can be optimized with existing resources. Healthier pregnancies lead to a healthier and happier life after birth. These factors include sunlight, vitamin D, milk, cheese, eggs, fruit, and well-cooked vegetables, fiber-rich foods, as well as optimizing thyroid function and pregnenolone and progesterone (which support mitochondrial function and protect against aldosterone, parathyroid hormone, excess serotonin, CRH, and cortisol, as well as increase allopregnanolone), and the use of the safest anti-inflammatory and anti-serotonergic medications such as aspirin and cyproheptadine when needed."

May 2019 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

The mitigating effect of sleep on stress-induced catabolism

"The stress of darkness creates an inefficient catabolic state in which cortisol breaks down tissue to provide glucose, and that sleep reduces this stress to some extent."

March 2018 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

The interactions between serotonin, cortisol, and estrogen

"Serotonin activates the stress hormones, and the cortisol produced as a result can have the protective effect of inhibiting the enzyme that produces serotonin, as well as activating the MAO that breaks it down (Clark and Russo, 1997; Ou et al., 2006; Popova et al., 1989). Estrogen increases serotonin synthesis, decreases its binding, and inhibits its breakdown."

July 2019 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

The Antagonistic Influence of Progesterone Against Other Steroid Hormones

"The effects of progesterone contrast with those of the other major steroid hormones, especially estrogen, cortisol, and aldosterone. These hormones impair energy metabolism, particularly glucose oxidation."

January 2018 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Environmental Enrichment Lowers Estrogen and Glucocorticoids

"Both estrogen and stress-induced glucocorticoids are reduced by environmental enrichment, allowing progesterone to act with less interference."

January 2018 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Unsaturated Fatty Acids Stimulate Hormone Production

"Unsaturated fatty acids increase activation of the pituitary gland and adrenal cortex, thereby boosting the production of ACTH and glucocorticoids."

January 2017 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Cortisol in Response to Low Glycogen Stores

"If there is not enough stored glycogen in the liver, muscles, and other tissues to meet the brain's glucose needs at night, cortisol rises. This breaks down tissue proteins to provide amino acids and glucose, while this nighttime stress also increases free fatty acids."

January 2017 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Nighttime Carbohydrates Lower Cortisol

"Consuming a large part of the daily carbohydrate intake late in the day or even during the night can help restore the brain's glycogen, with less need for cortisol, and helps reduce the nighttime rise in free fatty acids as well as their excitatory and inflammatory effects."

January 2017 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

The Non-Suppressive Effect of Progesterone on Its Own Synthesis

"The fact that progesterone (and probably also pregnenolone) stimulates its own synthesis means that taking it does not suppress the body's ability to produce it, as is the case with cortisol. Sometimes a single dose or a few doses can restore the body's ability to produce enough of its own progesterone."

Generative Energy Restoring The Wholeness Of Life

The Fundamental Role of Progesterone and DHEA

"Progesterone and DHEA are the precursors for other, more specialized steroid hormones, including cortisol, aldosterone (the sodium-retaining hormone), estrogen, and testosterone."

Generative Energy Restoring The Wholeness Of Life

Harmful Effects of Prolonged Cortisone During Stress

"Meerson's work has shown in detail how the normally beneficial adaptation hormone cortisone can cause so many harmful effects when its action is too prolonged or too intense."

Generative Energy Restoring The Wholeness Of Life

The Role of Blood Sugar in Cortisone Formation

"The fundamental signal that triggers the formation of cortisone is a drop in blood sugar levels. The increased energy demand during any form of stress tends to slightly lower blood sugar, but hypothyroidism itself also tends to reduce blood sugar."

Generative Energy Restoring The Wholeness Of Life

The Role of Stress-Induced Cortisone in Heart Attacks

"According to Meerson, heart attacks are triggered and worsened by the cortisone produced during stress. (Meerson and his colleagues have shown that the course of a heart attack can be halted by treatment including natural substances such as vitamin E and magnesium.)"

Generative Energy Restoring The Wholeness Of Life

The influence of hypothyroidism on cortisone and inflammation

"While hypothyroidism causes the body to need more cortisone to maintain blood sugar and energy production, it also limits the ability to produce cortisone. In some cases, stress therefore leads to symptoms resulting from cortisone deficiency, including various forms of arthritis and more general types of chronic inflammation."

Generative Energy Restoring The Wholeness Of Life

The balanced use of hydrocortisone to manage the effects of stress

"Often a small physiological dose of natural hydrocortisone can help the patient cope with stress without causing harmful side effects. While symptoms are treated short-term with cortisone, it is important to try to identify the underlying cause by checking for hypothyroidism, vitamin A deficiency, protein deficiency, lack of sunlight, etc."

Generative Energy Restoring The Wholeness Of Life

Diseases associated with stress-related cortisone deficiency

"Stress-related cortisone deficiency is considered a factor in a wide variety of unpleasant diseases, from allergies to ulcerative colitis as well as many forms of arthritis."

Generative Energy Restoring The Wholeness Of Life

The influence of stress on hormone production and deficiency

"The stress that can cause a cortisone deficiency is even more likely to disrupt the production of progesterone and thyroid hormones, so the fact that cortisone can relieve symptoms does not mean the underlying problem has been resolved."

Generative Energy Restoring The Wholeness Of Life

The limits of cortisone without treating the underlying causes

"Although cortisone supplementation can help with a wide variety of stress-related diseases, no cure will occur as long as the underlying cause is not recognized. Besides the thyroid, the other class of adaptive hormones often out of balance in stress diseases is the group of hormones mainly produced by the gonads: the sex hormones."

Generative Energy Restoring The Wholeness Of Life

Overlooked nutritional factors in infertility

"Too much carotene, too little vitamin A, insufficient magnesium or sodium, as well as too much cortisol are often overlooked factors in infertility."

Generative Energy Restoring The Wholeness Of Life

Metabolic stress as a signal for the onset of reproductive maturity

"I suspect that reproductive maturity begins at a time when the organism experiences a generalized, life-threatening metabolic stress – namely aging – and that the metabolic slowdown starting with puberty signals the appropriateness of reproduction and makes the organism more dependent on glucocorticoids."

Generative Energy Restoring The Wholeness Of Life

Brain atrophy related to specific stress conditions

"Instead of a programmed or random continuous cell loss, brain atrophy, when it occurs, seems to be caused by specific conditions such as stress with prolonged exposure to glucocorticoid hormones."

Generative Energy Restoring The Wholeness Of Life

The influence of pregnenolone on steroid hormones and stress relief

"Pregnenolone is not a hormone but normalizes steroid hormones, prevents excess cortisol, and helps normalize aldosterone, so it should be helpful in any form of stress, including surgeries."

Email Response by Ray Peat

The role of estrogen in cortisol production and cell damage

"Elevated cortisol is a normal response to the cell-damaging effects of stress or inflammation, yet cortisol itself causes the death of nerve and immune cells through excitotoxicity by blocking glucose metabolism. Estrogen increases cortisol production in various ways, both via the pituitary gland and through direct effects on the adrenal glands."

February 2001 –

The role of adrenaline in depression, stress, and inflammation

"Elevated adrenaline is – like elevated cortisol – a hallmark of depression, stress, and inflammation; by mobilizing fats, it can become part of a vicious cycle in which free fatty acids cause insulin resistance and thereby activate stress responses."

February 2001 –

The role of estrogen and cortisol in epileptic seizures and brain diseases

"Estrogen increases the brain's susceptibility to epileptic seizures, and recent research shows that it (as well as cortisol) enhances the effects of excitotoxins, which are increasingly linked to degenerative brain diseases."

August–September 1995 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

The catabolic role of glucocorticoid hormones during stress

"The glucocorticoid hormones of stress fulfill the important catabolic role of mobilizing substances from resting organs to support the working organs."

June 1992 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

The heart's resilience to stress and glucocorticoid resistance

"The many ways in which the heart can resist stress and even benefit from it can be generalized to develop methods to protect other organs and the entire body from the chronic and cumulative burdens that lead to generalized atrophy, declining function, and aging. During stress, the heart and other working organs become resistant to glucocorticoid hormones. When a person is given radioactive testosterone, it is shown to reach the highest concentration in the heart. It is the anti-glucocorticoid effect of testosterone that causes an enlargement of skeletal muscle during moderate physical exertion."

June 1992 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

The effects of stress on the use of glucose and fat

"When the oxygen supply to tissues is insufficient, glucose is quickly depleted. Under persistent stress, the liver's gluconeogenic response to glucocorticoids is reduced, as is its ability to form and store glycogen. As glucose becomes less available, the amount of adrenaline in the blood rises, and fat is mobilized from stores as an alternative energy source. Free fatty acids, especially unsaturated fats, are toxic to the mitochondrial respiratory system and block both the ability to use oxygen and the ability to produce energy. The increased use of fats instead of glucose leads to an increase in lipid peroxidation."

June 1992 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Criticism of the concept of autoimmune diseases and their treatments

"Often the idea of an autoimmune disease serves as justification for the use of immunosuppressive treatments like glucocorticoids or methotrexate, which is why I usually avoid the word and the concept."

December 1992 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Protective functions of GABA-related metabolites

"GABA-related metabolites such as GHB, butyric acid, succinic acid, and butyrobetaine have several protective functions, including promoting respiration and pregnenolone synthesis, regulating gene expression, and reducing damage caused by glucocorticoids."

August–September 1992 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Protective functions of GABA-related metabolites

"Progesterone has the special status of an essential nerve growth factor and generally blocks the catabolic effects of glucocorticoids and estrogen, thereby protecting all tissues – from brain cells to white blood cells."

August–September 1992 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

The effect of thyroid hormones on sleep, cramps, and anxiety

"While many people consider the thyroid as a kind of stimulant because it can reverse the coma or lethargy of myxedema, this is a very misleading notion. In hypothyroidism, the brain-stimulating hormones adrenaline, estrogen, and cortisol are usually elevated, while the nerve- and muscle-relaxing magnesium is low. Normal, deep sleep is rare in a hypothyroid person. The correct dose of triiodothyronine (the active thyroid hormone) together with magnesium is a reliable treatment for insomnia, cramps, and anxiety, regardless of whether these symptoms are caused by exhaustion, aging, or alcohol withdrawal."

June 1991 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

The osmotic adaptation of salmon and accelerating aging hormones

"Another fish species, the salmon, which returns to freshwater to reproduce, shows the other extreme of adaptation to an osmotic problem. After living isotonically in the hypertonic ocean and keeping its mineral content and osmolarity lower than that of seawater, it must suddenly adapt to the extremely hypotonic freshwater. The release of prolactin and glucocorticoid steroids seems to facilitate this abrupt adaptation, but these hormones also seem to cause an explosively rapid form of aging. I think their condition resembles the cushingoid symptoms often seen in middle-aged people."

July 1991 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

The connection between stress hormones, aging, and light research

"Having already spent years studying the effects of light on hormones and health, I began to realize that the existing knowledge about the involvement of stress and glucocorticoid hormones in the aging process perfectly matched my concept of winter illness."

January 1991 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Cortisol levels in darkness and stress response

"People who are awake in the dark have higher cortisol levels than those who sleep in the dark; that is, sleep is a partial protection against the stress of darkness. The cortisol released in darkness or other stress (an adrenaline) has the important function of maintaining blood sugar levels."

January 1991 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

The damaging effects of stress and glucocorticoids on the brain

"It is now clear that both stress and an excess of glucocorticoid hormones cause brain damage (as well as damage to all other organs). Marion Diamond's work with rats (in captivity or free-living) showed that stress causes very general brain damage, including the cerebral cortex, and other studies have demonstrated specific damage to the hypothalamus, hippocampus, and other brain areas."

January 1991 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

The role of energy production in balancing physical extremes

"Efficient energy production prevents the body from falling into either the cholinergic extreme or the glucocorticoid extreme."

January 1991 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

The decline of protective hormones in the aging brain

"In young people, the brain contains a very high concentration of pregnenolone and its derivatives DHEA and progesterone, all of which stabilize cells and protect against the effects of cortisol. However, with age, these drop to about 5% of their normal concentration, exposing the brain to the destructive effects of cortisol."

January 1991 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

The protective effects of activated charcoal against various toxins

"Besides endotoxin, I think activated charcoal can also protect against microbial estrogen and glucocorticoids, carbon monoxide, cyanide, and unsaturated oils. The uptake of heavy metals is likely reduced by all types of fiber."

February–March 1991 – Ray Peat's Newsletter (1)

Parallels between menopause and Cushing's syndrome

"In the mid-1970s, when I pointed out that menopause resembles Cushing's syndrome, I had not yet sufficiently studied this condition of cortisol excess to recognize the full extent of the parallels: for example, hot flashes, night sweats, and insomnia, very common menopausal symptoms, are also widespread in Cushing's syndrome. The tendency of estrogen to increase cortisol production should be considered in connection with the brain-aging effects of both estrogen and cortisol."

April 1991 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

The influence of estrogen and cortisol on tissue integrity

"Both estrogen and cortisol weaken the structural components of tissue, and the bruising so often associated with premenstrual syndrome seems to involve the unchecked action of both hormones."

April 1991 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

The influence of estrogen and cortisol on tissue integrity

"The brain's content of progesterone, pregnenolone, and DHEA is usually 20 to 30 times higher than the serum concentration, and these hormones act protectively against both estrogen and cortisone."

April 1991 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

The administration of cortisol produces age-like symptoms in organ systems

"The main features of aging can be directly caused by the administration of excessive amounts of cortisol. These features include atrophy of the skin, arteries, muscles, bones, immune system, and parts of the brain, loss of pigment (melanin), fat deposition in certain areas, as well as slowed nerve conduction velocity."

October 1990 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Treatment of degenerative diseases with anti-estrogen hormones

"Many degenerative diseases develop under the influence of excessive estrogen and cortisone (and as a result of the many metabolic changes that occur after exposure to these hormones). Many of these diseases, especially those that appear after puberty and are more common in women, can be very effectively treated with anti-estrogen and anti-stress hormones like progesterone."

October 1990 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Dietary practices to minimize cortisol production

"Additional dietary practices can minimize our cortisol production (e.g., combining fruit and protein, since protein-rich foods lower blood sugar and stimulate cortisol release)."

October 1990 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Estrogen-related thyroid disorders and compensatory hormonal adjustments

"Estrogen-induced thyroid dysfunction can be compensated to some extent by various hormonal adjustments; increased release of adrenaline and cortisol is common in this. When compensation is insufficient, hypoglycemia often occurs along with a tendency to produce too much histamine. Too much adrenaline causes cold hands and feet; too little leads to orthostatic hypotension (blackouts when standing up quickly) and intestinal cramps."

August–September 1990 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

The immunosuppressive effects of cortisol

"Unrestrained cortisol acts immunosuppressively in several ways, including through thymic hypoplasia, the reduction of histaminolytic activity and liver monooxygenase activity, which contributes to chronic allergies, as well as by inducing the expression of certain retrovirus types."

November 1989 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

The essential role of the thyroid in protein synthesis and energy

"Thyroid function is essential for all cellular processes, including protein assimilation and synthesis, growth hormone formation, etc. Without thyroid hormone to maintain respiration, inefficient glycolysis wastes energy; unoxidized lactate triggers the catabolic breakdown of liver protein. Hypoglycemia stimulates the release of glucocorticoids, which maintain blood sugar at the cost of rapid protein breakdown."

November 1989 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

The role of thiosulfate in anti-stress approaches to diseases

"Since very high cortisone levels destroy the detoxifying cytochrome enzymes, the use of thiosulfate—to restore remaining cytochromes that may be blocked by cyanide—appears to be a sensible part of an anti-stress approach to disease treatment."

January 1989 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Anesthetic steroids reduce cortisol release and damage

"The anesthetic steroids, especially progesterone, usually reduce the need for cortisol release and simultaneously act as a protective buffer against the harmful effects of cortisol."

August–September 1988 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

The destructive effects of cortisol excess on gut enzymes and allergies

"Although a physiologically balanced amount of cortisol induces detoxifying enzymes, for example in the gut, unchecked excess leads to the destruction of these enzymes, causing a large part of the gut's barrier function to be lost and allergies to develop. This effect of cortisol on the thymus as well as on the gut's detoxifying enzymes very likely explains the frequent association of allergies with viral infections. Since cortisol has a destabilizing, convulsion-promoting effect on the nervous system, psychological symptoms are also likely to occur — from compulsive behavior to depression to seizures — which are associated with the other chronic conditions."

August–September 1988 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

The protective effects of digitoxin in enteritis-induced fever

"In the last century, it was observed that digitoxin (a natural steroid derivative) reduced fever caused by enteritis. This is probably another example of a catatoxic function, a protective effect common to many steroids, and likely worked by stabilizing detoxifying enzymes as well as preventing the uptake of endotoxin. Endotoxin is known to destabilize and inactivate the detoxifying enzymes of the gut, just like an overdose of cortisol."

August–September 1988 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Cortisol as a biological eraser and tissue modulator

"Although it is important to be aware of the deadly effects of chronic, unchecked exposure to cortisol (as well as estrogen and prolactin), these hormones, which cause atrophy and loss of function in various tissues, also have a creative function. I have elsewhere called them the biological erasers, the hormones of new beginnings. In the case of cortisol, it can be helpful to compare its effect on tissue cells to the process of winnowing wheat, where the chaff is blown away while the grain remains. I believe there is a mechanism, as suggested by Meerson, where functional stress preserves the cells and systems needed in the current environment, while inactive cells are eliminated or reduced by the action of cortisol."

August–September 1988 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

The role of glucose in protecting against cortisol-induced catabolism

"Sufficient energy, for example in the form of available glucose, acts protectively against cortisol-induced catabolism. White blood cells can protect themselves by metabolizing cortisol in the presence of sufficient glucose."

August–September 1988 – Ray Peat's Newsletter
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