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A new study shows that chronic stress combined with comfort foods such as high-calorie snacks can cause certain changes in the brain that may lead to overeating, increased cravings for delicacies, and eventually weight gain.
Publishing in the journal Neuron, researchers from the Garvan Institute for Medical Research found that chronic stress when paired with high-calorie foods leads to changes in the brain, leading to more eating and increased cravings for sweets.
According to researchers, over time, this can lead to excessive weight gain and other health concerns.
Professor Herzog Herzog, senior author of the study, said:
“Our study showed that chronic stress, combined with a high-calorie diet can lead to eating more and more food as well as a preference for very sweet and tasty foods, thus promoting weight gain and obesity.”
In the study, researchers found that chronic stress can disrupt the brain’s natural response to satiety. According to the researchers, this is because chronic stress disrupts the brain’s lateral trabeculae, an area that suppresses reward signals related to food intake.
Speaking about the findings, Professor Herzog said:
“Our findings reveal that stress can override a normal brain response that reduces the pleasure gained from eating, which means that the brain is constantly rewarded for eating.”
Moreover, he also emphasized the importance of maintaining a healthy diet, especially during periods of excessive stress.
What is the link between chronic stress and comfort food?
While some people eat more during times of stress and turn to comfort foods that are high in fat and sugar, others may eat less and stick to their diet.
To better understand these different dietary habits, the researchers used mouse models to study how different regions of the brain react to stress under different diets.
The researchers found that when rats were stressed, their lateral confinement was not activated, affecting reward signaling and leading them to eat for pleasure rather than hunger. The researchers even found that stressed mice gained twice as much weight as unstressed mice while on the same diet.
Dr. Kenny Chi-Ken LP, first author of the study, said:
“We discovered that a region known as the lateral hypoglossum, which is normally involved in turning off the brain’s response to reward, was active in mice on a short-term, high-fat diet to protect the animal from overeating.”
He completed:
“When mice were exposed to chronic stress, this part of the brain remained silent — allowing reward signals to remain active and encouraging feeding for pleasure, and no longer responding to regulatory signals for satiety.”
Chronic stress and an unhealthy diet: What is the link between the two?
The researchers also focused on the complex relationship between diet preferences and stress. To determine the relationship between the two, they used a sucralose preference test on rats. The test involved giving mice the choice of consuming either artificially sweetened water or plain water.
As a result, it was found that stressed mice that were on a high-fat diet consumed three times more sucralose than mice that were not under stress but only on a high-fat diet.
This finding indicates that stress not only increases food cravings, but specifically leads to cravings for high-calorie foods and hearty foods.
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