Everyone knows that stress can cause you to eat – but a new study confirms that those who find themselves often overwhelmed may develop an addiction to unhealthy foods.
Researchers published in the journal Neuron said stress can override the components of the brain that treat sweets and junk food as occasional rewards – making us crave them every day.
“We showed that chronic stress, combined with a high-calorie diet, can drive increased food intake as well as a preference for sweet and highly palatable food, thereby promoting weight gain and obesity, ” said senior author Herbert Herzog of Garvan. Institute of Medical Research.
“Our findings reveal that stress can override a natural brain response that reduces the pleasure gained from eating – meaning the brain is constantly rewarded for eating…when experienced over long periods of time, stress appears to change the equation, encouraged eating that is bad for. long-term body.”
Specifically, the scientists focused on the brain’s lateral habenula, which regulates food reward signals.
In a rat study, the lateral habenula “was active” and prevented overeating of high-fat diets in a control condition.
“However, when mice were chronically stressed, this part of the brain remained silent – allowing reward signals to remain active and encourage eating for pleasure, no longer responding to satiety regulatory signals,” said author Dr . Kenny Chi Kin Ip.
“We found that stressed mice on a high-fat diet gained twice as much weight as mice on the same diet that weren’t stressed.”
A special molecule produced by the brain in times of stress called NPY is also to blame. When NPY was blocked from reaching the lateral habenula in test mice, they chose less comfort food and gained less weight.
Another test using water artificially sweetened with sucralose proved that there is also a tendency for the brain to dip right into its proverbial supply of sweet tooth.
“Stressed rats on a high-fat diet consumed three times more sucralose than rats that were on a high-fat diet alone,” Herzog added.
This suggests, he said, “that stress not only activates more rewards when eating, but specifically induces a desire for sweet, palatable food.”
Nutrition experts claim that eating mindfully and truly appreciating your food is the most effective way to combat long-term stress and the effects it has on the body.
“Ideally, you should sit down and enjoy your food and focus on the tastes, smells and feel of it, even if it’s just for five minutes,” Ginger Hultin, a registered dietitian, told Fortune.
#chronic #stress #causing #overeat #Deal
Image Source : nypost.com