How a hormonally active food affects skin, cycles, and emotional stability
I often meet people who have already cleaned up their diet. They eat whole foods, plenty of vegetables, minimal sugar, and they are thoughtful about what they put into their bodies. And yet, they still feel emotionally volatile. Their skin flares before their period. Their mood dips sharply. PMS feels intense, or PMDD feels unmanageable. When everything looks right on paper, this can feel deeply confusing.
What I see again and again is that dairy is often the missing piece. Not because it is indulgent, but because it is hormonally active in ways that are rarely explained clearly.
This matters, particularly for anyone with hormonal sensitivity.
Dairy is designed to drive growth, not balance
Milk exists for one purpose. To promote rapid growth in a newborn of another species. That growth signal is built into dairy itself.
One of the key compounds involved is IGF-1, insulin-like growth factor. This is not a contaminant or a farming error. It is intrinsic to milk. When humans consume dairy, IGF-1 activity increases, signalling cells to grow and divide.
In a developing calf, this is appropriate. In an adult human, especially one with hormonal vulnerability, it creates unnecessary stimulation.
Growth signals do not act in isolation. They interact with insulin, oestrogen, and androgen pathways. When these systems are already sensitive, the result is often instability rather than nourishment.
Understanding oestrogenic load
Dairy contributes to what is known as oestrogenic load. This does not simply mean blood oestrogen levels. It refers to the total amount of oestrogenic activity the body must process, metabolise, and clear.
Despite popular mythology, unlike soy, dairy contains bioactive mammalian oestrogens, and it also influences how the body produces and recycles its own hormones. This increases the overall burden on the liver and gut, which are responsible for hormone clearance.
When that load becomes excessive, symptoms appear. Breast tenderness. Fluid retention. Heavier cycles. Acne. Emotional reactivity. Premenstrual anxiety or low mood.
These are not random. They are predictable responses to hormonal congestion.
Acne is a hormonal signal, not a skin problem
One of the most consistent findings in nutritional research is the association between dairy and acne. This link shows up across populations and age groups.
The mechanism is clear. Dairy increases IGF-1 activity, which in turn increases androgen signalling and sebum production. The skin responds accordingly.
What matters here is not vanity. Acne is an external sign of internal hormonal communication. When skin flares cyclically, it is often mirroring what is happening hormonally beneath the surface.
Topical treatments miss the point. The signal is coming from inside.
Hormones and mood are inseparable
Hormones do not only influence the reproductive system. They directly affect neurotransmitters such as serotonin and GABA, which play central roles in mood regulation, emotional resilience, and anxiety.
When oestrogen fluctuates sharply, serotonin availability can drop. When progesterone is poorly supported, calming pathways are compromised. Add inflammatory signals to this mix, and emotional stability becomes fragile.
Dairy amplifies these fluctuations. It increases hormonal volatility and inflammatory signalling, particularly in those already prone to mood changes across the cycle.
This is why dairy removal often results in emotional steadiness before any other change becomes obvious. People tell me they feel calmer, less reactive, less hijacked by their emotions. Nothing else changed. Only dairy left.
The gut brain connection matters more than most people realise
Mood is not created solely in the brain. It is shaped continuously by what happens in the gut.
Dairy proteins provoke inflammatory responses in the digestive tract. This does not always show up as bloating or pain. Low grade inflammation can be quiet and persistent, affecting gut permeability and microbial balance.
When the gut is inflamed, communication between the gut and brain becomes distorted. Neurotransmitter production is affected. Stress resilience drops. Emotional responses become exaggerated.
Someone may not feel digestive discomfort at all, yet still experience anxiety, irritability, or mood swings. The gut brain axis does not require obvious symptoms to be disrupted.
The lived experience I see repeatedly
There is a pattern I encounter again and again.
Someone improves their diet. Energy lifts. Digestion settles. Concentration improves. They feel proud of the changes they have made. And yet, their mood still crashes premenstrually. Acne still flares. Emotional sensitivity still feels out of proportion.
Dairy is often the last thing to go, precisely because it is so normalised and ubiquitous. Milk in coffee. Yoghurt for protein. Cheese for comfort. It rarely registers as a problem food.
When dairy is removed, the shift is often striking. Cycles feel calmer. Skin clears. Emotional reactions soften. People describe feeling more like themselves again.
Not lighter. Not thinner. Steadier.
Why dairy hits harder in PMS and PMDD
PMS and PMDD reflect heightened sensitivity to hormonal shifts. The nervous system and brain respond more intensely to changes in oestrogen and progesterone.
When exogenous hormonal signals are added to an already sensitive system, symptoms escalate. This is not weakness. It is biology.
For someone with PMDD, even small hormonal perturbations can feel overwhelming. Removing hormonally active foods reduces the background noise the body is trying to manage.
I often say that with hormonal sensitivity, the margin for error is smaller. Dairy pushes the system outside that margin.
Removing dairy is not a nutritional loss
One of the most persistent fears I encounter is nutritional deficiency. Calcium. Protein. Iodine. Fat.
In practice, nutritional adequacy improves when dairy is removed and replaced thoughtfully. Leafy greens, legumes, seeds, tofu, tempeh, fortified plant milks, sea vegetables, nuts, and whole grains provide minerals in forms the body can regulate more effectively.
Plant-based calcium does not come packaged with growth hormones. Protein arrives without inflammatory baggage. The body is supported rather than pushed.
The key is replacement, not restriction.
Emotional stability is a biological signal
Mood symptoms are not an inconvenience to be managed. They are communication.
When emotional volatility reduces after dairy removal, the body is telling a clear story. The hormonal environment has become quieter. The nervous system no longer needs to brace itself.
As Hippocrates observed long ago, healing begins when we stop interfering with the body’s attempts to restore balance.
This is not about purity. It is about listening.
A final reflection
If you have improved your diet and still feel hormonally or emotionally unstable, I encourage curiosity rather than self criticism. The answer is often not another supplement or protocol. It is removing what does not belong.Steadier mood is rarely achieved by adding more. It comes from reducing the signals the body is struggling to process.
When the hormonal load lightens, clarity returns. And with it, a sense of calm that feels earned, not force.
