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May 24, 2021 · Stress leads to detrimental health outcomes through direct biological and indirect behavioural changes. Stress can lead to disruption to normal eating behaviours, although the strength of these associations is unknown.
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Previous research has shown that high levels of stress have...
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Weight-related adaptions of the metabolic, neuroendocrine, and neuronal pathways can together potentiate food preference, craving and intake under conditions of stress. A sensitized feed-forward process may result in changes that promote elevated desires for and increased consumption of hyperpalatable foods.
Thus, we have posited that stress and brain food and reward circuits overlap significantly and stress potentiates food craving via activation of habit-based circuits as in other types of addictions (Sinha and Jastreboff, 2013).
- Study Design
- Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria
- A Priori Power Analysis
- Recruitment and Screening Procedures
- Assessment
- Stress Induction
- Ad-Libitum Taste Test
- Procedure
- Sample Storage, Biochemical Analyses and Data Preparation
- Statistical Analyses
The MESA study is a randomized controlled study that started in December 2018 and is being conducted in a laboratory setting at the Medical School Hamburg. The study is divided into an online screening and a main examination, with detailed description in the following (“Procedure” section). The study has a four-group design. Participants are strati...
Males have a higher risk of developing drinking problems compared to females and are more likely to report stress-induced drinking . Therefore, only male individuals are included to reduce heterogeneity and potential of confounding factors (e.g. intake of oral contraceptives, menstrual cycle), especially in the biological measures. All participant...
A non-clinical target sample of 400 young men is aimed for the MESA study. A power analysis was conducted to calculate the needed sample size. A series of Monte Carlo simulations (each simulating 1000 ANOVA F tests) using the simpower program in STATA 12.1 was run. The Monte Carlo simulations revealed that assuming a sample size of n = 200 per dri...
Participants are recruited via personal contacts, flyers and advertisement in university and public settings in Hamburg (cafés, bars, supermarkets, sports clubs; student dormitories) as well as via social media (e.g. Instagram, Facebook) and student job markets. In addition, advertising is made in lectures and on the university website. All individ...
Person-related measures
Participants complete a comprehensive baseline assessment (questionnaire package) including the measures of the proposed moderators (childhood maltreatment, trait impulsivity), mediators (attentional bias to alcohol related stimuli, inhibitory control and impulsivity, and stress reactivity during the acute stressor), and variables that might affect the associations of interest (usual alcohol consumption, drinking motives, perceived stress, trait anxiety, difficulties in emotion regulation, ps...
Biological measures
Hair strands are taken to reflect cumulative long-term cortisol secretion within two months prior to the respective assessment point . The cumulative cortisol secretion consisting of basal cortisol secretion as well as stress-induced cortisol secretion, has been shown to be an important moderator of stress-related adverse consequences including increase in alcohol use [85, 86]. In addition, during the study four saliva samples are collected using Salivettes® “code blue” (Sarstedt, Nümbrec...
Behavioral measures
In addition to self-report measures, three behavioral tasks are conducted to measure attentional bias to alcohol related stimuli, inhibitory control and impulsivity as possible mediators in the association between stress and alcohol use [18, 90]. Attentional bias towards alcohol-related cues is measured using a dot-probe task (Fig. 2), which was programmed based on previous tasks in similar settings [41, 90]. Subjects are presented with pairs of matched alcoholic (beer) and non-alcoholic beve...
Stress is induced with the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) as one of the most frequently inserted research tools for the induction of acute psychosocial stress in experimental, laboratory research worldwide. The TSST is a standardized laboratory protocol, which provides a reliable and ecologically valid stressor . The TSST contains elements of soc...
After completion of the behavioral tasks and the intervention, participants are asked to take part at an ad-libitum taste test as a covert measure for alcohol consumption. The ad-libitum taste test is a widely used method, which provides an unobtrusive and indirect measure of participants’ motivation to drink alcohol . All participants are given tw...
The main assessments are conducted between 14–20 p.m. in order to reduce the variance in biological measures (e.g. saliva cortisol) due to diurnal rhythms [111]. It is also likely that the willingness to drink alcohol is smaller in the morning than in the evening while there is no influence of day time on alcohol consumption in the ad libitum taste...
The saliva samples are taken using salivette ‘code blue’ devices (Sarstedt, Nümbrecht, Germany) directly before the intervention and at three time points after the intervention (Fig. 5). Saliva samples are stored at − 20 °C in a laboratory freezer. After thawing, saliva samples will be centrifuged for 10 min at 4000 rpm. Salivary cortisol concentra...
Main effects of stress exposure (stress vs control group) on alcohol consumption (amount of alcoholic beverage consumed) will be determined using linear regressions adjusting for the amount of non-alcoholic beverages consumed (which reduces unspecific variance in outcome). However, in case of considerable by chance differences in baseline character...
Is diet important for the bi-directionality of stress on food intake? For example, can prolonged exposure to stress suppress appetite and food intake even when palatable foods are available? Does dietary choice matter and, if so, how does stress-induced disruption of circuits involving prefrontal regions predict diet choice and consumption.
Feb 15, 2021 · Stressed people also lose sleep, exercise less, and drink more alcohol, all of which can contribute to excess weight. Why do people stress eat? Some research suggests a gender difference in stress-coping behavior, with women being more likely to turn to food and men to alcohol or smoking.
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Jun 8, 2023 · According to a new study published in the journal Neuron June 8, stress paired with high-calorie ‘comfort’ food results in brain changes that cause more eating, and increase cravings for...
