Can These Foods Trigger Hot Flashes and Night Sweats?

Hot flashes and night sweats—the bane of up to 80 percent of women during the menopause transition ¹—are primarily driven by hormones. When estrogen drops, the hypothalamus (the brain’s inner thermostat) thinks it’s hotter than it actually is and sets off sweating to cool you down. But some women say that certain foods and drinks can also trigger hot flashes and night sweats.

“Every woman’s triggers are as unique as her fingerprint,” says menopause expert Shweta Patel, M.D. “And research—and plenty of personal ‘field testing’ by patients—confirms that certain dietary culprits, like spicy foods, caffeine, alcohol, and ultra-processed carbs, can crank up the internal thermostat.”

Research on foods’ impact on hot flashes is limited, but experts say it can’t hurt to see if you get hot flashes after eating certain foods. Below are the foods most likely to trigger hot flashes and night sweats. Patel recommends keeping a food and symptom journal to see if these foods—or any others—regularly cause hot flashes.

About the Experts:

Shweta Patel, M.D., FACOG, is an OB-GYN, menopause expert, and founder of Gaya Wellness.

Alyssa Dweck, M.D., FACOG, is an OB-GYN focusing on menopause and sexual health at Well by Messer in New York City.

Megan Lyons, D.C.N., is double-board certified in clinical and holistic nutrition and a certified nutrition specialist and licensed dietitian nutritionist.

Tara Scott, M.D., is a board-certified OB-GYN, a functional and integrative medicine physician, and a menopause specialist.

Foods That Cause Hot Flashes

Experts have pinpointed some common food triggers for hot flashes and night sweats. These foods may bring the heat in different, yet sometimes overlapping, ways. They may dilate blood vessels, spike blood sugar, literally warm the body, or have a combination of these effects. Here are the top foods experts agree are the biggest triggers.

Alcohol & hot flashes

Alcohol is the most common hot flash trigger, according to experts. “Alcohol dilates surface blood vessels, which can cause flushing, warmth, and heat,” says OB-GYN Alyssa Dweck, M.D. When blood vessels dilate, or widen, it makes the skin feel warmer. Thinking it needs to sweat to cool the body quickly, kisspeptin/neurokinin B/dynorphin (KNDy, pronounced like “candy”) neurons in the hypothalamus trigger a hot flash. ²

Alcohol also revs up your heart rate, raising body temperature.

How your body processes alcohol can further complicate things. Alcohol is a neurotoxin, says double-board certified nutrition specialist Megan Lyons. Your body doesn’t want it to get to your brain, so it stalls the digestion of everything else. If you have a couple of drinks in the evening, your liver will spend the next two hours clearing the alcohol before it starts processing your meal. After everything’s been metabolized (which is likely the middle of the night), blood sugar levels drop, disrupting sleep and causing night sweats.

The drop in estrogen during menopause also promotes low-grade inflammation, which may contribute to hot flashes. Alcohol, being inflammatory itself, may exacerbate this symptom for some women. ^{3 4}

Some women find red wine triggers hot flashes more than other types of alcohol, says Dweck. “This is anecdotal, of course, and not an invitation to increase white wine or vodka intake.”

Spicy foods & hot flashes

A fiery curry or extra-hot salsa can leave anyone dripping smelly sweat, but when you’re already prone to hot flashes and night sweats, spicy foods may intensify the effect.

Capsaicin, the chemical compound that gives chilis their fiery bite, has thermogenic properties, meaning it raises body temperature. The body has to work harder to cool down (hence the sweat). Warming spices, including black pepper, cinnamon, and ginger, often have this effect. If you’re already dealing with temperature dysregulation from menopause, these foods may push you over the edge. ⁵

Caffeine & hot flashes

Caffeinated drinks, including coffee, black and green tea, and energy drinks may also trigger hot flashes, though the research is mixed. ⁶

“Some studies show caffeine might worsen symptoms in sensitive individuals, while others suggest it’s not a universal trigger,” says Patel.

Caffeine is both a vasoconstrictor and a vasodilator: it initially narrows blood vessels, then causes them to widen, often leading to a heat flush. This effect on the blood vessels, combined with caffeine’s stimulation of heart rate and blood flow, may increase the likelihood of triggering hot flashes. ⁷

Caffeine also acts as a diuretic, says Dweck, which can lead to dehydration—another potential hot flash trigger.

If you’re drinking coffee or tea, temperature may also be a factor in triggering hot flashes, says Tara Scott, M.D., a board-certified OB-GYN and menopause specialist. “I’ve had a lot of patients tell me drinking anything hot makes them have a hot flash.” Try switching to iced coffee or tea, or swapping in a low- or no-caffeine option, like decaffeinated coffee, matcha, or herbal tea.

Keep in mind that caffeine lingers. Its half-life is five to six hours, meaning it takes that long for half of the caffeine to get out of your system. Experts recommend pulling the plug on caffeine at least eight to 10 hours before bedtime, especially since some research suggests that sleep disturbances can trigger night sweats, not the other way around. ^{8 9}

Sugar & hot flashes

Sugary foods might trigger hot flashes by causing blood sugar to spike and then plummet. When you eat a sugar-packed food, your blood sugar and heart rate rise, leading to increased blood flow and feelings of warmth, Dweck says.

Sugar also results in rapid insulin release and a rapid reduction in blood sugar, which can cause perspiration and jitteriness. During menopause, declining estrogen levels increase insulin resistance, which can worsen blood sugar instability. Over time, this instability may exacerbate the vascular changes that contribute to hot flashes.

High cortisol (aka the stress hormone), which is common in perimenopause and menopause, can make you crave sugar, leading to a repeating loop of cravings, crashes, and hot flashes. ¹⁰ The end result is a vicious hot-flash-causing cycle: “When your blood sugar goes up, your cortisol goes up, your insulin goes up, and then your blood sugar goes down, and that can precipitate hot flashes,” Scott says.

One small study found that hot flashes were more frequent when women went longer between meals. This suggests that maintaining stable blood sugar with balanced meals and fewer simple sugars could reduce hot flashes. ¹¹

Chocolate & hot flashes

Whether chocolate causes hot flashes is debatable. Some women find chocolate can bring on a hot flash—which makes sense as it’s a double-whammy of sugar and caffeine—while others can raid their kids’ Easter baskets with abandon.

Dark chocolate has less sugar but more caffeine, while white chocolate has more sugar and less caffeine. Milk chocolate falls in between. ^{12 13 14} Test how different chocolates impact you (it’s research!)

Ultra-Processed Food

One observational study published in Maturitas in 2022 found that women who ate the most ultra-processed foods had the most intense hot flashes. ¹⁵

Which makes sense: Ultra-processed foods like pizza, French fries, and packaged foods often contain high levels of sodium, added sugars, and artificial ingredients—all potential flash triggers.

“Some chemicals in ultra-processed foods might affect thermoregulation in the brain,” Dweck says. “Also, high salt content can increase blood pressure and result in hot flashes.” And we already noted that sugar is a potential hot flash trigger food.

Not sure what counts as ultra-processed? Lyons offers a simple test: If you could make it at home with normal pantry ingredients and equipment, it’s probably not ultra-processed. If you’d need a lab to make it, it is.

Can dairy & eggs cause hot flashes?

Contrary to internet rumors, there’s no strong evidence linking dairy or eggs to increased hot flashes. In fact, one 2020 study found that a higher intake of total and low-fat dairy was associated with fewer menopausal symptoms overall. ¹⁶

Foods That Help Hot Flashes

While some foods seem to make hot flashes worse, others may actually ease them.

Dweck recommends the Mediterranean diet for hot flashes, which has research to back its efficacy. ¹⁷ “It’s naturally low-glycemic, low in salt, focuses on whole foods rather than processed foods, and allows for alcohol in moderation,” she says.

A low-fat vegan diet that includes soy may also curb hot flashes. One controlled trial found that postmenopausal women who ate soy daily reduced their moderate-to-severe hot flashes by 84 percent in 12 weeks, with more than half reporting their hot flashes stopped altogether. The participants also saw reduced body weight and improved physical and sexual symptoms of menopause on this diet. ¹⁸

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About the author

Stephanie Anderson Witmer is a freelance journalist and content creator based in Pennsylvania. She's written health and lifestyle stories for Women's Health, Redbook, Prevention, Good Housekeeping, USA Today, Better Homes & Gardens, Giddy, Parade, Yoga Journal, and more.

About the reviewer

Dr. Shelly Chvotzkin, D.O., F.A.C.O.O.G., is a physician board certified in obstetrics and gynecology. She is a member of the American College of Osteopathic Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), the American Osteopathic Association (AOA), the American Society for Colposcopy and Cervical Pathology (ASCCP) and the Menopause Society (formerly known as the North American Menopause Society or NAMS).