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Comfort foods and sex may reduce stress by inhibiting anxiety responses in the brain, a study
finds.
Individuals often eat calorically dense, highly palatable “comfort” foods during stress for stress relief. This article demonstrates that palatable food intake (limited intake of sucrose drink) reduces neuroendocrine, cardiovascular, and behavioral responses to stress in rats. Artificially sweetened (saccharin) drink reproduces the stress dampening, whereas oral intragastric gavage of sucrose is without effect. Together, these results suggest that the palatable/rewarding properties of sucrose are necessary and sufficient for stress dampening. In support of this finding, another type of natural reward (sexual activity) similarly reduces stress
responses.
Yvonne Ulrich-Lai and colleagues provided rats twice daily access to a sugar solution for 2 weeks and then tested the rats’ physiological and behavioral responses to stress. Compared with controls, sugar-fed rats had lower heart rates and stress hormone levels while restrained, and were more willing to explore an unfamiliar environment and socially interact with other rats. Additional experiments indicated that the effect persisted for at least 7 days, which suggested to the authors that the benefits may be long-term. Access to calorie-free artificially sweetened drinks and sexually responsive partners likewise reduced rats’ stress indicators, whereas sugar supplied directly to the stomach did not blunt rats’ stress response. Damage to the rats’ basolateral amygdala, an area of the brain associated with behavioral and hormonal stress responses, prevented stress relief after sugar consumption, indicating that neural activity in this region is necessary for the effect, the authors report. The authors suggest that while large amounts of tasty food may provide additional stress relief, eating smaller portions and engaging in rewarding activities may be sufficient to reduce the effects of stress.
Source
Pleasurable behaviors reduce stress via brain reward pathways
PNAS Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2010/10/29/1007740107
Authors
1. Yvonne M. Ulrich-Laia,1,
2. Anne M. Christiansena,
3. Michelle M. Ostrandera,
4. Amanda A. Jonesa,
5. Kenneth R. Jonesa,
6. Dennis C. Choia,2,
7. Eric G. Krausea,
8. Nathan K. Evansona,
9. Amy R. Furaya,3,
10. Jon F. Davisa,
11. Matia B. Solomona,
12. Annette D. de Kloeta,
13. Kellie L. Tamashiroa,4,
14. Randall R. Sakaia,
15. Randy J. Seeleyb,
16. Stephen C. Woodsa, and
17. James P. Hermana
Author Affiliations
1.Departments of (a)Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience and
2.(b)Internal Medicine, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45237
* 2 Present address: Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Center for Behavioral Neuroscience, Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30303.
* 3 Present address: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195.
* 4 Present address: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21205.
(MDN)
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