We all know that stress can cause a loss of appetite, but a new study confirms that people who frequently feel overwhelmed may become addicted to comfort foods that are bad for them.
Researchers published in magazines neuron They say stress can override the components of the brain that treat sweets and junk foods as occasional rewards, making us want to eat them every day.
“The combination of chronic stress and a high-calorie diet can lead us to increasingly increase our food intake, preferring sweet and palatable foods, thereby promoting weight gain and obesity. “We showed that there is,” he said. Senior author Herbert Herzog of the Garvan Medical Research Institute.
“Our findings reveal that stress can override natural brain responses that reduce the pleasure derived from eating, meaning that the brain continually recognizes the rewards of eating. We’re getting…When stress is experienced over an extended period of time, it seems to change the equation and promote unhealthy eating for the body in the long term. ”
Specifically, the scientists focused on the brain’s lateral habenular nucleus, which regulates food reward signals.
In a study in mice, the lateral habenula was “activated” in control conditions, preventing them from over-consuming a high-fat diet.
“However, when mice are chronically stressed, this part of the brain remains silent and reward signals remain active, which can encourage feeding for pleasure, while satiety-regulating signals remain active. “It became unresponsive,” said author Dr. Kenny Chee Kin Yip.
“We found that mice stressed with a high-fat diet gained twice as much weight as unstressed mice fed the same diet.”
A specific molecule called NPY, which is produced by the brain during stress, is also responsible. When NPY was prevented from reaching the lateral habenula in test mice, they chose more comfort food and less weight gain.
Another test using water artificially sweetened with sucralose also proved that the brain has a tendency to dive into its proverbial sweet tooth stash.
“Stressed mice fed a high-fat diet consumed three times more sucralose than mice fed only a high-fat diet,” Herzog added.
This “suggests that stress not only activates more reward when eating, but also causes cravings, especially for sweet and savory foods,” he said.
Nutrition experts claim that the most effective way to combat long-term stress and its effects on the body is to eat mindfully and truly appreciate the food you eat.
“Ideally, you should sit down, enjoy your meal, and focus on the tastes, smells, and textures, even if just for five minutes,” says registered dietitian Ginger Hultin. told Fortune.
