<P> Studies have also found that fathers had lower levels of cortisol and testosterone but higher levels of estrogen (estradiol) compared to non-fathers . </P> <P> Estrogen may play a role in suppressing binge eating . Hormone replacement therapy using estrogen may be a possible treatment for binge eating behaviors in females . Estrogen replacement has been shown to suppress binge eating behaviors in female mice . The mechanism by which estrogen replacement inhibits binge - like eating involves the replacement of serotonin (5 - HT) neurons . Women exhibiting binge eating behaviors are found to have increased brain uptake of neuron 5 - HT, and therefore less of the neurotransmitter serotonin in the cerebrospinal fluid . Estrogen works to activate 5 - HT neurons, leading to suppression of binge like eating behaviors . </P> <P> It is also suggested that there is an interaction between hormone levels and eating at different points in the female menstrual cycle . Research has predicted increased emotional eating during hormonal flux, which is characterized by high progesterone and estradiol levels that occur during the mid-luteal phase . It is hypothesized that these changes occur due to brain changes across the menstrual cycle that are likely a genomic effect of hormones . These effects produce menstrual cycle changes, which result in hormone release leading to behavioral changes, notably binge and emotional eating . These occur especially prominently among women who are genetically vulnerable to binge eating phenotypes . </P> <P> Binge eating is associated with decreased estradiol and increased progesterone . Klump et al. Progesterone may moderate the effects of low estradiol (such as during dysregulated eating behavior), but that this may only be true in women who have had clinically diagnosed binge episodes (BEs). Dysregulated eating is more strongly associated with such ovarian hormones in women with BEs than in women without BEs . </P>

Estrogen is released by the ovary in response to