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Stress and eating behaviors
Since high-fat and high-sugar foods have been recently associated with possessing addictive qualities, Yau & Potenza (2013) address stress as a great influence in the development of addiction, which creates further links with increased risk of obesity and other metabolic diseases. Chronic stress alters eating habits and hyperpalatable food consumption, possibly leading to alterations in allostatic load and the triggering of neurobiological adaptations that encourage compulsive behavior. Various factors have been implicated with these changes, including the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, glucose metabolism, insulin sensitivity, and other appetite-related hormones and hypothalamic neuropeptides. It can be proposed that chronic stress affects the mesolimbic dopaminergic system and other brain regions involved in stress/motivation circuits. It may be multiple pathways synergistically potentiating reward sensitivity, food preference, the desire for hyperpalatable foods, and inducing metabolic changes, while individual susceptibility to obesity and the types of stressors can affect this equation also. To develop effective preventative and treatment strategies for obesity and related metabolic diseases, this review suggests fully elucidating the associations and interactions between stress, neurobiological adaptations, and obesity. [NPID: stress, high-fat, high-sugar, addiction, obesity, metabolic disease, chronic disease, palatable foods, neurobiological adaptations, mesolimbic dopaminergic system, dopamine, reward, motivation]
Year: 2013
