Departments of Psychology and Nutrition, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08854-8020, United States.
Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2011 Nov;36(10):1513-9. doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2011.04.005. Epub 2011 Sep 8.
Chronically stressed rodents who are allowed to eat calorie-dense "comfort" food develop greater mesenteric fat, which in turn dampens hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis activity. We tested whether similar relations exist in humans, at least cross-sectionally. Fifty-nine healthy premenopausal women were exposed to a standard laboratory stressor to examine HPA response to acute stress and underwent diurnal saliva sampling for basal cortisol and response to dexamethasone administration. Based on perceived stress scores, women were divided into extreme quartiles of low versus high stress categories. We found as hypothesized that the high stress group had significantly greater BMI and sagittal diameter, and reported greater emotional eating. In response to acute lab stressor, the high stress group showed a blunted cortisol response, lower diurnal cortisol levels, and greater suppression in response to dexamethasone. These cross-sectional findings support the animal model, which suggests that long-term adaptation to chronic stress in the face of dense calories result in greater visceral fat accumulation (via ingestion of calorie-dense food), which in turn modulates HPA axis response, resulting in lower cortisol levels.
长期承受压力的啮齿动物如果可以食用高热量的“安慰”食品，会发展出更多的肠系膜脂肪，而这反过来又会抑制下丘脑-垂体-肾上腺皮质（HPA）轴的活动。我们测试了在人类中是否至少存在类似的关系，至少是在横截面上。59 名健康的绝经前女性接受了一项标准的实验室应激源测试，以观察 HPA 对急性应激的反应，并进行了日间唾液采样以测量基础皮质醇和对地塞米松给药的反应。根据感知到的压力评分，女性被分为低压力和高压力组的极端四分位数。我们的假设得到了验证，即高压力组的 BMI 和矢状直径显著更大，并且报告了更多的情绪化饮食。对急性实验室应激源的反应，高压力组的皮质醇反应减弱，日间皮质醇水平较低，对地塞米松的抑制作用更大。这些横断面发现支持了动物模型的研究结果，该模型表明，长期面对高热量饮食的慢性压力会导致内脏脂肪堆积（通过摄入高热量食物），从而调节 HPA 轴反应，导致皮质醇水平降低。
