Chronic stress can drive brain to crave comfort food  

Summary: Chronic stress can drive brain to crave comfort food. Natural satiety cues can be overridden by stress, leading to increased appetite and sweet cravings.

A high-calorie snack may seem like a relaxing go-to when you’re feeling stressed. But there is a negative aspect to this combo. Scientists from Sydney claim that stress and calorie-dense ‘comfort’ foods alter the brain in ways that encourage overeating, increase the desire for sweet, highly appealing foods, and result in weight gain.

Source: Garvan Institute of Medical Research

The brain’s normal response to fullness was overridden by stress, according to a study from the Garvan Institute of Medical Research, which resulted in constant reward signals that encouraged consuming more highly appetizing food. This happened in the lateral habenula, a region of the brain that, when active, generally muffles these reward signals.

According to Professor Herzog, senior author of the study and Visiting Scientist at the Garvan Institute, their research shows that stress may overcome a brain reaction that normally reduces eating, giving the brain ongoing reinforcement for doing so.

They demonstrated how a high-calorie diet and ongoing stress may lead to increased food consumption and a predilection for sweet, highly appealing foods, which can lead to weight gain and obesity. This study emphasizes how important eating well is under stress.

The study was released in the Neuron publication.

Stressed out brain leads to weight gain

While some people eat less while under stress, the majority eat more and select calorie-dense foods that are heavy in sugar and fat.

The scientists looked at how various brain regions responded to chronic stress under diverse diets in mouse models to determine what motivates these eating patterns.

They found that mice on a brief, high-fat diet had activity in a region of the brain called the lateral habenula, which is generally involved in turning off the brain’s reward response. Dr. Kenny Chi Kin Ip, the lead author and a researcher at the Garvan Institute, explains that when mice experienced chronic stress, this portion of the brain stayed silent, allowing reward signals to remain active and drive pleasure eating rather than reacting to satiety regulating signals.

In contrast to stressed mice on the same diet, they discovered that stressed mice on a high-fat diet acquired twice as much weight.

The scientists found that the chemical NPY, which the brain normally creates in reaction to stress, was at the root of the weight increase. In stressed mice fed a high-fat diet, the researchers inhibited NPY from activating brain cells in the lateral habenula. As a result, the mice consumed fewer comfort foods and gained less weight.

driving and comfort food

The mice were given the option to drink either water or water that had been artificially sweetened as part of the researchers’ next experiment, known as a “sucralose preference test.”

Professor Herzog asserts that stress specifically creates a desire for sweet, appetizing food while also activating increased reward while eating. Sucralose consumption was three times higher in stressed mice on a high-fat diet compared to animals on a high-fat diet alone.

Crucially, they found no evidence of this preference for sweetened water in mice under stress who were eating normally.

Stress trumps a balanced energy level

Since it’s simple to expend a lot of energy when eating, eating may offer you a burst of energy when you’re under stress. Additionally, the pleasure you have while eating may also help you feel calmer. However, stress seems to alter the equation when experienced over an extended period of time, leading to long-term eating behaviors, according to Professor Herzog.

According to the study’s findings, stress is a key factor in regulating eating patterns and can interfere with the brain’s inborn capacity to balance energy requirements.

According to Professor Herzog, “this research emphasizes just how much stress can impair a healthy energy metabolism.” It serves as a reminder to live a stress-free lifestyle and, more importantly, if you are experiencing chronic stress, to attempt to eat a nutritious diet and put junk food aside.