Does Drinking Coffee Affect My Libido?

Currently, over 80% of Americans consume caffeine daily (around 200 mg per day), with the majority of caffeine coming from coffee. Outside of coffee, other major sources of caffeine include soda/pop and energy or sports drinks. But will your next caramel macchiato, Celsius, or pre-workout scoop tank your libido (sexual desire)?

Currently, there is very limited and conflicting research around the effects of caffeine on sex drive in both men and women, with the majority of studies focusing on hormones and fertility. However, most studies demonstrate that caffeine has indirect effects on sexual desire. Despite coffee’s antioxidant properties and its ability to help keep a person awake, there are some important things to consider.

The negative side effects of caffeine consumption can have indirect effects on anyone’s sexual desire over time. For example, caffeine can create problems with insomnia, chronic sleep problems, dehydration, and, in extreme cases, heart problems.

In turn, insomnia and sleep issues have adverse effects on sexual function, especially arousal. Additionally, heart and blood pressure issues can make it even more difficult to become erect or aroused. These situations may lead some individuals to avoid sex altogether.

Men’s Sexual Health

Generally speaking, there is no direct influence of caffeine on male libido, but it may influence some elements of sexual function. Several studies in this area have noted that drinking 2-3 cups of coffee (170-375 mg of caffeine) per day may reduce the rate of persistent erectile dysfunction in men; however, there is currently not enough research to confirm whether or not this is true. The authors of this study think this may be due to some chemical and hormonal reactions that assist penile blood flow.

Conversely, there have been a number of studies that associate caffeine consumption with reduced testosterone in men, which, may lead to lower libido and erectile dysfunction in cases of testosterone deficiency. However, this circumstance seems to be related to the specific type of caffeine consumed. Coffee specifically has different qualities than other caffeine sources that may help increase testosterone levels, but this has yet to be confirmed on a larger scale. Interestingly, decaffeinated coffee appeared to increase the risk of erectile dysfunction in one of these studies.

Very high amounts of caffeine per day (over 400mg) are generally not recommended by healthcare professionals. In the case of sexual function, large amounts of daily caffeine may lower testosterone levels, leading to issues with desire and erectile function.

Women’s Sexual Health

There is considerably less research on the effects of caffeine on women outside of pregnancy and fetal health. However, there is one study that focuses on the changes in estrogen levels with caffeine consumption between racial demographics. As estrogen is the dominant sex hormone in women of reproductive age, it is hypothesized that these changes would also influence women’s libido the same way that testosterone influences men’s and postmenopausal women’s.

This study revealed that higher amounts of coffee consumption led to a decrease in white women’s estrogen levels, and an increase in Asian women’s estrogen levels. Other forms of caffeine (soda/pop and tea) increased estrogen levels in both demographics.

Key Points

So, does your coffee consumption influence your libido? It might! Whether that is a positive or negative effect is still up for debate. It’s generally a bad idea to overconsume caffeine throughout the day, though, so try to stay under 400mg/day for overall health purposes.

Resources

Karimi, M., Asbaghi, O., Kazemi, K., Sedgi, F. M., Soleimani, E., & Moghadam, H. K. (2024). Association between caffeine intake and erectile dysfunction: A meta-analysis of Cohort studies. Journal of Health, Population and Nutrition, 43(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s41043-024-00645-w

Lopez, D. S., Liu, L., Rimm, E. B., Tsilidis, K. K., de Oliveira Otto, M., Wang, R., Canfield, S., & Giovannucci, E. (2018). Coffee intake and incidence of erectile dysfunction. American Journal of Epidemiology, 187(5), 951–959. https://doi.org/10.1093/aje/kwx304

Lopez, D. S., Wang, R., Tsilidis, K. K., Zhu, H., Daniel, C. R., Sinha, A., & Canfield, S. (2015). Role of caffeine intake on erectile dysfunction in US men: Results from NHANES 2001-2004. PLOS ONE, 10(4). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0123547

Schliep, K. C., Schisterman, E. F., Mumford, S. L., Pollack, A. Z., Zhang, C., Ye, A., Stanford, J. B., Hammoud, A. O., Porucznik, C. A., & Wactawski-Wende, J. (2012). Caffeinated beverage intake and reproductive hormones among premenopausal women in the biocycle study. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 95(2), 488–497. https://doi.org/10.3945/ajcn.111.021287