6 Foods That Can Raise Your Stress Levels

2. Added sweeteners—and not just sugar

Added sugar can increase stress because it can raise cortisol. In one experiment, eating sugar before a psychosocial stress test elevated cortisol levels. The results don’t mean that dessert can cause a panic attack, but it does suggest that frequent sugar intake may make your body’s stress response less stable.

The more refined the sugar, the more pronounced the effect, says Christine Ferguson, an assistant professor of nutrition sciences at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

“Thinking about increased blood sugar, an impact on appetite regulation, and ultimately inflammation and cortisol— these are all bidirectional influences,” Ferguson explains. “But the antioxidants in honey can help reduce some inflammation. The vitamins and minerals in fruit juice will reduce some inflammation. Plain table sugar or high fructose corn syrup, they’re just spiking it.”

Some manufacturers swap in artificial sweeteners and slap “no added sugar” on the label. Eating too many of these may cause trouble too. While the research is still relatively sparse, it suggests large amounts of sugar substitutes may disrupt the balance of bacteria in your gut.

“Artificial sweetener in your iced tea is fine unless you’re drinking 18 glasses a day, which then makes 18 packets,” Naidoo says. Moderation is the key.

3. Refined carbs for breakfast

Starting your day with white toast and jam, donuts or sugary cereal sets you up for a stress-inducing blood sugar roller coaster.

“Those types of simple carbohydrates change into sugar pretty rapidly in the body,” Naidoo says. “They don’t help us feel full or calm or satiated.”

When your blood sugar crashes midmorning, expect your mood to match. A 2025 study tracked 90 healthy adults via continuous glucose monitors and regular mood check-ins. Researchers found that dips in blood sugar were tied to lower mood, mainly because low blood sugar left people feeling hungry. That hunger, not the blood sugar dip itself, soured their state of mind.

One sneaky breakfast offender often gets overlooked: sweetened, fruited yogurt. “Yes, blueberries are healthy, and plain yogurt has probiotics. But fruited yogurt can have up to eight teaspoons of sugar as well as additives,” Naidoo says.

Her fix is simple: “A better option is to add fresh blueberries or other fruit to plain yogurt, then add a touch of honey, a little bit of cinnamon to sweeten it.”

4. Caffeinated drinks

Your morning java isn’t necessarily the problem. The size of the dose plus how you get your caffeine — what you put in that coffee or if you opt for an energy drink instead — matters more.

It’s important to consider the source, Ferguson says. “It may take you 30 minutes to drink a cup of coffee. The caffeine isn’t hitting your system all at once.”

An espresso shot works differently, she explains. “Your body takes it right away. You’ll feel a stimulant effect, which can increase your stress level. If you have anxiety, you’ll experience more with espresso.”

Energy drinks bring their own risks. They often contain other stimulants and additives besides caffeine.

“With chronic use, you can build a tolerance,” Ferguson says. “You need to consume more to feel the effects, which will increase your stress day in, day out.”

A 2026 review of studies looked at how caffeine affects anxiety in healthy adults. It found that caffeine-induced insomnia may trigger anxiety symptoms. One possible explanation: Consider how poorly you respond to stress when you’re overtired.

Don’t let this news put you off coffee completely, though. “It’s less about the coffee itself, since it has some helpful polyphenols,” Naidoo says. “But when you throw in a quarter-cup of ultra-processed creamer and eight sugars, it changes that product.”

In other words, if you sip a cup of joe with nothing but milk in the morning and keep caffeine consumption below 400 milligrams a day, you shouldn’t see a spike in stress.

5. French fries and other fried foods

Frying doesn’t just add calories. It changes food at a chemical level in ways that may affect your mood.

“Fried foods are usually submerged in fat and cooked at a high temperature,” Ferguson says. “That’s way more detrimental than adding olive oil to your salad.”

A 2023 study followed more than 140,000 participants over a decade. It found that over the long term, higher fried-food consumption was linked to greater risk of anxiety and depression, especially in men, and especially with fried potatoes (such as french fries.) The likely culprit is acrylamide, a chemical created when starchy foods are cooked at high temperatures.

In the researchers’ experiments with zebra fish, prolonged exposure to acrylamide appeared to trigger oxidative stress and inflammation in the brain, which can lead to mental health issues.

6. Alcohol

A glass of wine may feel relaxing in the moment. But that mellow vibe comes at a cost, especially when one glass turns into two or three.

“Alcohol makes you feel calm, but it borrows your future calm,” Ferguson says. “Once it’s out of your system, all the hormones and neurotransmitters it’s dampening come back in greater force.”

Some of alcohol’s stress-boosting effects have to do with sleep. Though a drink may soothe your nerves and help you fall asleep when you’re anxious, once your liver finishes processing it in the middle of the night, it can wake you up. After that, getting back to sleep can be hard.

A 2026 review of previous research linked alcohol consumption to disrupted sleep — and drinking closer to bedtime makes the situation worse. Also, alcohol doesn’t just fragment sleep. It’s also tied to a higher likelihood of obstructive sleep apnea, and the severity grows with more frequent or heavier drinking.  

All of this matters because poor sleep quality has been directly linked to cortisol levels. It seems to interfere with your body’s stress response, blunting the natural daily rhythm where cortisol rises and falls.

Still, Naidoo doesn’t recommend an all-or-nothing approach to drinking.

“Whenever I say don’t ever consume something, people want it more,” she says. “Instead, I say to focus on having a clean cocktail or a glass of wine with dinner.”

Her example of a clean cocktail: gin and soda with a piece of fresh fruit, no added sugar or processed syrups. Just as with caffeine, the extra stuff in your cocktail can boost your stress level too.