Originally published December 12 2005
Cincinnati researchers find sweets help with stress relief
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
A new study by researchers from the University of Cincinnati suggests that sweets effectively halt the production of stress-related hormones that have been linked to obesity and weakened immune function.
Sweets can't do any good to you; sweets can make you obese - all of us have grown up listening to these kinds of statements about the harmful effects of sweets.
But, according to a new study by University of Cincinnati researchers, consuming sweet snacks may decrease the production of the stress-related hormone glucocorticoid, which has been linked to obesity and decreased immune response.
"Glucocorticoids are produced when psychological or physical stressors activate a part of the brain called the 'stress axis'.
These hormones help an individual survive and recover from stress, but have been linked to increased abdominal obesity and decreased immune function when produced in large amounts," said Yvonne Ulrich-Lai, a postdoctoral fellow in the department of psychiatry.
Dr. Ulrich-Lai and a team of researchers from the department of psychiatry showed that when laboratory rats chose to eat or drink sweet snacks their bodies produced lower levels of glucocorticoid.
"The sweets we are talking about are not the low-calorie, sugar-substitute variety.
We actually found that sugar snacks, not artificially sweetened snacks, are better 'self-medications' for the two most common types of stress, psychological and physical," said Dr Ulrich-Lai.
Examples of physical stress are injury, illness, or prolonged exposure to cold.
During the study, researchers gave adult male rats free access to food and water and also offered them a small amount of sugar drink, artificially sweetened drink, or water twice a day.
Following both types of stress, rats that had consumed the sugar drink had lower glucocorticoid levels than those that drank the water.
Those drinking the artificially sweetened drink showed only slightly reduced glucocorticoid levels.
Dr Ulrich-Lai noted that although her team was not studying the health effects of the sweetened drinks, they did not notice a body-weight increase in the rats consuming the sugar drinks.
All content posted on this site is commentary or opinion and is protected under Free Speech. Truth Publishing LLC takes sole responsibility for all content. Truth Publishing sells no hard products and earns no money from the recommendation of products. NaturalNews.com is presented for educational and commentary purposes only and should not be construed as professional advice from any licensed practitioner. Truth Publishing assumes no responsibility for the use or misuse of this material. For the full terms of usage of this material, visit www.NaturalNews.com/terms.shtml