How Does Stress Affect Eating Behaviour?

One of the best recognized psychosocial factors tied to food intake is stress. However, this relationship is far from straightforward. While acute stress is often associated with loss of appetite, chronic stress is generally associated with an increase in appetite and weight gain.

Now, a series of articles assembled in Frontiers in Neuroendocrine Science by Alfonso Abizaid1 (Carlton University, Canada) and Zane Andrews (Monash University, Australia), describe in detail the rather complex neuroendocrine factors that link stress to changes in ingestive behaviour.

The series includes articles on the role of neuroendocrine factors like GLP-1, NPY, ghrelin, oxytocin, dopamin, and bombesin but also articles linking stress-related eating behaviours to adverse childhood experiences, perinatal influences, circadian rhythms and reward-seeking behaviours.

I look forward to some interesting reads over the next few days and hope to summarize some of these articles in subsequent posts.

@DrSharma
Saint John, NB