14 DAY TRIAL // Researchers from the University of Cincinnati (UC) have found that eating or drinking sweets 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'", said Yvonne Ulrich-Lai, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Psychiatry.
"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. Finding another way to affect the body's response to stress and limit glucocorticoid production could alleviate some of these dangerous health effects."
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.
She said that sweets, especially those made from sugar, not artificial sweetener, might do the trick.
Psychological stress could involve things such as public speaking, being threatened or coping with the death of a loved one.