The hormone cortisol and stress responses were suppressed with the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages, according to recent study findings published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.
Diet beverages sweetened with aspartame did not produce the same effects, according to the researchers.
“This is the first evidence that high sugar — but not aspartame — consumption may relieve stress in humans,” Kevin D. Laugero, PhD, of the University of California, Davis, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service, said in a press release. “The concern is psychological or emotional stress could trigger the habitual overconsumption of sugar and amplify sugar’s detrimental effects, including obesity.”
Laugero and colleagues evaluated 19 women aged 18 to 40 years with a BMI range of 20 kg/m2 to 34 kg/m2 to determine the effect of sucrose- or aspartame-sweetened beverage consumption on the effect of cortisol and responses to stress. Eight participants were assigned to consume aspartame-sweetened beverages, and 11 were assigned to sucrose-sweetened beverages.
Participants drank one of the assigned beverages at breakfast, lunch and dinner and were instructed not to consume other sugar-sweetened beverages for a 12-day period. Participants consumed a standardized low-sugar diet and stayed at a clinical research center for 3.5 days before and after the study. After the 12-day period, participants underwent MRI screening after performing math tests to gauge the brain’s stress response. Saliva samples also were provided to measure cortisol levels.
Higher stress-induced activity in the left hippocampus was revealed after 2 weeks of consumption of sucrose-sweetened beverages compared with aspartame-sweetened beverages (P = .001). Cortisol response was diminished after 2 weeks of consumption of sucrose-sweetened beverages and was elevated after consumption of aspartame-sweetened beverages.
“The results suggest differences in dietary habits may explain why some people underreact to stressful situations and others overreact,” Laugero said. “Although it may be tempting to suppress feelings of stress, a normal reaction to stress is important to good health. Research has linked over- and under-reactivity in neural and endocrine stress systems to poor mental and physical health.” – by Amber Cox
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