Twice as fat from stress plus fast food
All content is checked by medical journalists.MunichMost people gain weight under stress. Not only because the psychological pressure whets the appetite for fat and sweets in particular - they burn fewer calories than usual at the same time.
"Some research shows that we tend to eat the wrong things when we're stressed," says study director Janice Kiecolt-Glaser of Ohio State University. Chocolate, pizza and other high-calorie meals are at the top of the list of favorite feasts. Now the researchers have been able to prove that the fattening-up people are particularly sensitive to stress.
Greasy breakfast
For the study, the psychologists served 58 women a lavish breakfast on two days each, which contained 60 grams of fat and a total of 980 kilocalories. That already corresponds to about half the daily energy requirement. At the same time, the researchers asked their test subjects about personal stress experiences in the previous 24 hours. It could be just as stressful at work as it was a personal problem. Finally, the women completed questionnaires on past depressive symptoms and described their physical activity the day before.
After the meal, the scientists used the composition of the air to determine the metabolic rate of the women every 20 minutes for seven hours. “By measuring the gas exchange, we can determine how much energy the body is currently consuming,” explains Prof. Martha Belury, who also worked on the study. Further information was obtained from the test subjects' blood sugar, blood lipid and insulin values as well as the level of the stress hormone cortisol in the blood.
Decelerated metabolism
31 of the participants reported that they were stressed on one day, 21 even on both. Typical triggers were arguments with colleagues or partners, anger with the children or greater stress at work.
Women who stated that they had experienced at least one stressful experience on the previous day had lower metabolic activity and therefore consumed fewer calories: an average of 104 kilocalories less per day. This is roughly equivalent to the energy content of one and a half apples. “It might not be a big deal on a single day, but added up over the year, that can add up to eleven pounds,” says study director Kiecolt-Glaser. In addition, the insulin level of the stressed women was increased, which also promoted the storage of fat in the tissue.
The basic mood also influenced the result: in women who had previously suffered from depression, the stress slowed down the metabolism the most.
Reserve for dangerous times
The researchers do not dare to say whether stress has a similar effect on the metabolism of men - the way in which both sexes deal with pressure is simply too different.
From an evolutionary point of view, it makes sense to store energy during stress. Stress usually means a dangerous situation - and in dangerous times it is good to have a few more reserves. Today, however, when food is available in almost unlimited quantities even in stressful phases, this advantage is becoming a disadvantage. (cf)
Source: Janice Kiecolt-Glaser: Daily Stressors, Past Depression, and Metabolic Responses to High-Fat Meals: A Novel Path to Obesity; Published Online: July 13, 2014; DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2014.05.018
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