Eating junk food like samosas or burgers when you’re stressed may actually increase your anxiety levels, researchers said Monday.
When people feel stressed, they tend to turn to high-calorie foods for comfort.
A study by researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder found that in animals, a high-fat diet affects brain chemistry in ways that disrupt normal gut bacteria, change behavior, and increase anxiety.
Christopher Rowley, a professor of integrative physiology at the University of Colorado Boulder and lead author of the paper, said it was surprising to think that a high-fat diet alone could change the expression of these genes in the brain.
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“The high-fat group essentially had the molecular signature of a heightened state of anxiety in the brain,” Rowley added in the study published in the journal Biological Research.
Throughout the study, the researchers assessed the animals’ microbiomes, or gut bacteria. Compared to a control group, the high-fat diet group gained weight, but the animals also had a significantly reduced diversity of gut bacteria.
The high-fat diet group also had higher expression of three genes involved in the production and signaling of the neurotransmitter serotonin, which is associated with stress and anxiety.
Serotonin is often referred to as the “feel good brain chemical,” but when a specific subset of serotonin neurons is activated, it can produce anxiety-like responses in animals.
Lawley suspects that an unhealthy microbiome weakens the lining of the intestine, allowing bacteria to enter the circulation and communicate with the brain via the vagus nerve, which runs from the digestive tract to the brain.
“If you think about human evolution, that makes sense,” Rowley said.
“We’re wired to really notice things that cause disease so we can avoid it in the future.”
Not all fats are bad, and healthy fats such as those found in fish, olive oil, nuts and seeds have anti-inflammatory properties and may be good for the brain, say the researchers.
