A study shows that a combination of food and high calorie stress leads to weight gain: MEDICINE AND HEALTH: Science Times

(Photo: Marcel Heil)

People often hear about stress talk or talk about it. This is observed when people deliberately consume much more food as needed to soothe the stress they are going through. However, weight gain due to stress is no longer just a matter of hearsay.

A recent study showed that people who eat high-calorie foods while under stress gain more weight than people who consume the same food but are not.

Scientists have explained that a molecular pathway controlled by insulin in the brain resulted in extra weight gain for a stressed person.

Herbert Herzog, head of the Laboratory of Eating Disorders at the Garvan Medical Research Institute, pointed out that people should be much more aware of what they decide to eat, especially when They are stressed. Taking the time to think about the diet or foods to eat can prevent the rapid development of obesity.

According to research, the center of weight gain is the molecule called NPY, naturally produced by the brain in response to stress. This molecule stimulates the urge to eat. For their research, scientists have observed the presence of this molecule in mice.

Kenny Chi Kin Ip, the lead author of the study and one of the researchers at Herzog's lab, explains that when his team eliminated the production of NPY in the amygdala , weight gain has also been reduced. This means that without NPY, the weight gain of a high-fat diet under stress is the weight gain observed when the same high-fat diet is followed in a stress-free environment.

The team further explained that food intake was mainly controlled by a part of the brain called hypothalamus. This part of the brain works hand in hand with the amygdala that processes the emotional responses.

The normal process involves the production of insulin after a meal, which sends a signal to the hypothalamus to ask him to stop eating. However, in this research, scientists discovered that the nerve cells that produced NPY in the amygdala had receptors for insulin.

By observing mice, the team of scientists discovered that chronic stress slightly elevates insulin levels in the blood. If it is badociated with a high-calorie diet, the level of insulin would be 10-fold higher (in mice).

Scientists have explained that because of the high and prolonged levels of insulin in the amygdala, nerve cells would become insensitive to insulin. This will then stop the detection of insulin and, in turn, would not allow the body to stop the consumption of food.