summary: Consuming fatty foods during stressful times can hinder your body's ability to recover from the effects of stress.
Researchers have found that consuming a high-fat meal, such as a butter croissant, before a stressful event reduces blood vessel function and oxygen supply to the brain, negatively impacting mood.
This study demonstrated that consuming high fat during times of stress reduced vascular function by 1.74% and oxyhemoglobin by 39% in the prefrontal cortex of the brain. Conversely, a low-fat diet has less impact on stress recovery, and polyphenol-rich foods such as fruits and vegetables may completely prevent vascular dysfunction.
Important facts:
- High-fat diet impedes stress recovery: Eating fatty foods before a stressful event can cause long-term damage to blood vessel function and reduce oxygen supply to the brain.
- Impact on mood and cognitive function: Fat intake affects not only your physical health, but also your mood and cognitive performance during and after stress.
- Healthy alternatives for stress management: Eating low-fat or polyphenol-rich foods can alleviate or prevent these negative effects, providing a healthier way to cope with stress.
sauce: University of Birmingham
Eating fatty foods during stressful times may impair the body's ability to 'recover' from the effects of stress, new research suggests.
Results differ from recently published studies Frontiers of nutrition and nutrients, We found that consuming fatty foods before an episode of mental stress can reduce brain oxygenation and impair vascular function in adults.
Rosalind Baynham, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Birmingham and lead author, explains: I then asked him to do mental arithmetic at speed for 8 minutes and to alert me if the answer was wrong.
“They were also able to watch themselves on a screen while they exercised. The experiment was designed to simulate the everyday stresses they might have to deal with at work or at home. it was done.
“When you are stressed, a number of things happen in your body, increasing your heart rate and blood pressure, dilating blood vessels, and increasing blood flow to the brain. Sexuality has also been shown to decrease after psychological stress.
“We found that consuming fatty foods during times of emotional stress was associated with a 1.74% decrease in vascular function (as measured by brachial flow-mediated dilation, FMD). A 1% decrease has been shown to increase the risk of cardiovascular disease by 13%.
“Importantly, we showed that this vascular dysfunction lasted even longer when participants ate croissants.”
The scientists were also able to detect a decrease in the elasticity of the participants' arteries up to 90 minutes after the stressful event ended.
The research team also found that eating high-fat foods reduced oxygen supply during times of stress (39% less oxygenated hemoglobin) than when participants ate low-fat foods, leading to increased brain oxygenation in the prefrontal cortex. It was also found that the Additionally, fat intake had a negative effect on mood both during and after stress episodes.
Jett Veldhuizen van Zanten, professor of biological psychology at the University of Birmingham, said: The food is phenomenal.
“For people who are already at increased risk of cardiovascular disease, the impact can be even more severe. For people at risk for the disease, these study results should be taken seriously. This research can help make decisions that reduce risk, rather than worsen it.”
This study also suggests that recovery from stress is less affected by consuming low-fat foods and drinks. Even after eating a low-fat diet, stress had a negative effect on vascular function (FMD decreased by 1.18%), but this decrease returned to normal 90 minutes after the stressful event.
Further research from the University of Birmingham team has shown that consuming 'healthier' foods, especially those rich in polyphenols such as cocoa, berries, grapes, apples and other fruits and vegetables, can reverse this impairment of vascular function. It has been shown that it can be prevented.
Dr Catarina Rendeiro, Assistant Professor of Nutritional Science at the University of Birmingham, says: 'The impact of these foods during stressful times cannot be underestimated. For example, reduced oxygen supply to the brain can affect mood and mental health. This can cause people to feel even more stressed.
“On the other hand, it can affect your cognitive function and your ability to perform the very tasks you find stressful, such as interviews, exams, and work meetings. This is something we will continue to study further.” I think so.
“Our study shows that food choices associated with stressful episodes can either exacerbate or protect against the effects of stress on the cardiovascular system. Good The news is that it means we can do something about this.
“We know that when people are stressed, they tend to gravitate toward high-fat foods because they're a convenient option when they're short on time, or as a reward for coping with stress.
“But doing this worsens your physical and psychological response to stress. Choosing low-fat foods may help you cope with stress more effectively.”
Rosalind Baynham concluded: “The world is an incredibly stressful place right now, and even without external factors like war or cost-of-living crises, stress is something we all have to deal with. So, next time you have a big meeting, or attend a job interview, why not forego the free biscuit and go for some berries instead? You'll feel more relaxed and cope with stress a little better. Maybe we can do it.”
About this stress and diet research news
author: Eleanor Hale
sauce: University of Birmingham
contact: Eleanor Hale – University of Birmingham
image: Image credited to Neuroscience News
Original research: Open access.
“Fat intake impedes recovery of endothelial function after psychological stress in healthy young adultsWritten by Rosalind Baynham et al. Frontiers of nutrition
Open access.
“Fat consumption reduces cortical oxygenation during psychological stress in healthy young peopleWritten by Rosalind Baynham et al. nutrients
abstract
Fat intake impedes recovery of endothelial function after psychological stress in healthy young adults
introduction: Psychological stress has been identified as a trigger for cardiovascular events. In healthy adults, even a single stress event can induce acute impairment of endothelial function. Importantly, periods of stress often lead to unhealthy behaviors such as increased intake of high-fat foods, which are also known to negatively impact endothelial function. Therefore, in this study, we investigated whether consumption of a high-fat diet further exacerbates the negative effects of psychological stress on vascular function.
Method: In a randomized, counterbalanced, crossover postprandial intervention study, 21 healthy men and women received either a high-fat meal (56.5 g fat) or a low-fat meal (11.4 g fat) 1.5 hours before an 8-minute mental stress task. g) was ingested. (Paced-Auditory-Serial-Addition-Task, PASAT). Plasma triglyceride (TAG) concentrations were assessed before and after meals. Forearm blood flow (FBF), blood pressure (BP), and cardiovascular activity were assessed before meals at rest and after meals at rest and during stress. Endothelial function, measured by brachial flow-mediated dilation (FMD), was assessed before meals and 30 and 90 minutes after mental stress.
result: Plasma TAG concentrations were significantly increased after a high-fat meal compared to low-fat conditions. Psychological stress caused similar increases in peripheral vasodilation, blood pressure, and cardiovascular activity in both conditions and reduced FMD 30 minutes post-stress. Only in the high-fat condition, FMD remained significantly reduced 90 min after stress, suggesting that fat intake attenuates the recovery of endothelial function after psychological stress.
Discussion: Given the prevalence of fat intake among young people during stressful periods, these findings have important implications for dietary choices to protect the vascular system during periods of stress.
abstract
Fat consumption reduces cortical oxygenation during psychological stress in healthy young people
Psychological stress is associated with cardiovascular events and stroke, and is also thought to be associated with a decline in brain function, possibly through effects on the cerebrovascular system. Stress often increases the intake of unhealthy foods, especially high-fat foods.
Although high fat intake and psychological stress are both known to impair endothelial function, few studies have investigated the effects of fat intake on cerebrovascular outcomes during psychological stress. Therefore, in this study we investigated whether a high-fat breakfast before engaging in a mental stress task alters cortical oxygenation and carotid blood flow in young healthy adults.
In a randomized, counterbalanced, crossover, postprandial intervention study, 21 healthy men and women were exposed to either high-fat (56.5 grams of fat) or low-fat (11.4 grams of fat) 1.5 hours before an 8-minute mental stress task. ) had breakfast. . Common carotid artery (CCA) diameter and blood flow were assessed at baseline before a meal, at rest 1 hour and 15 minutes after a meal, and at 10, 30, and 90 minutes after stress.
Prefrontal cortex (PFC) tissue oxygenation (near-infrared spectroscopy, NIRS) and cardiovascular activity were assessed at rest and during stress after meals. Psychological stress increased heart rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and PFC tissue oxygenation. Importantly, despite no differences in cardiovascular responses between high-fat and low-fat diets, a high-fat breakfast attenuated the stress-induced increase in PFC tissue oxygenation.
Fat and stress had no effect on resting CCA blood flow, but CCA diameter increased after consumption of both meals. This is the first study to show that fat intake can impair PFC perfusion during stress episodes in healthy young adults.
Given the prevalence of consuming high-fat foods during stressful times, these findings provide guidance for future studies investigating the relationship between food choices and cerebral hemodynamics during times of psychological stress. It has important meaning.
