Psychological Stress Linked To Overeating, Monkey Study Shows

Psychological Stress Linked To Overeating, Monkey Study Shows

ScienceDaily (May 14, 2008) — Researchers at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University, have found socially subordinate female rhesus macaques over consume calorie-rich foods at a significantly higher level than do dominant females.

The study, which is available in the online edition of Physiology and Behavior, is a critical step in understanding the psychological basis for the sharp increase in obesity across all age groups since the mid-1970s. The study also is the first to show how food intake can be reliably and automatically measured, thus identifying the optimal animal model and setting for future obesity studies.

Because the relationship between diet, psychological stress and social and environmental factors is complex, Mark Wilson, PhD, chief of the Division of Psychobiology at Yerkes, and his research team set out to determine whether individuals chronically exposed to psychologically stressful environments over consume calorie-rich foods. To do this, they studied the feeding patterns of socially housed female rhesus macaques, which are organized by a dominance hierarchy that maintains group stability through continual harassment and threat of aggression. Such structure is a constant psychological stress to subordinates.

During the study, female macaques were given access to a sweet but low-fat diet and a high-fat diet for 21 days each. For a 21-day period between each test diet, the group was able to access standard monkey chow only. To track feeding patterns, automated feeders dispensed a pellet of either the low-fat or high-fat chow when activated by a microchip implanted in each female's wrist. Researchers found socially subordinate females consumed significantly more of both the low-fat diet and the high-fat diet throughout a 24-hour period, while socially dominant females ate significantly less than subordinate animals and restricted their feedings to daytime hours.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080513125216.htm

Got any trail mix? ;)

Trail Mix sounds like hiking, which sounds like work, so I ain't eating it :)

are sounding kinda good.

DUH, it's called "Comfort Eating" and many people know that eating certain foods is linked to making you feel better. why else does that chocolate cake call out to you after a fight with someone? it makes you feel better because of the endorphins, right?

I have said for years that those in tough spots financially, etc will have health related problems because the food that most give that is cheap, etc to food banks is laced with MASS quantities of sodium, preservatives, etc...
ADD to that the stress eating factor (which, I thought as common knowledge - I can't believe they needed a monkey-study to figure that out) and no wonder we have such decline in health in our country...


thanks for the tidbit, interesting article.

:donut: :beer: :toast:

When my parents divorced and I never saw my father again and my mother forbid me to see any of his family, including my first cousin who was my best friend, I started over eating, especially sweets and carbs. I got back to a decent weight once I was an adult, only to balloon up when I was once again in a stressful situation--new marriage, new job, new home--which, to my mind, shows that stress of any kind can trigger this reaction. But I've worked on it, and have lost more than half the weight I last gained. Even now, when I've had a bad day, I have to watch the urge to over eat to "calm down". Now I take magnesium and try Qi Gong exercises and meditation to help.

I think a lot of women fit into that category vis a vis their husbands and boyfriends.

These are monkeys that maintain "group stability" through "harassment." Somehow this was supposed to indicate stress, in some indirect way.

But the thing is, a monkey who is overeating is going to be satisfied and therefore more docile. One given then better diet will be stronger and hungrier, and therefore more aggressive.

It doesn't seem to work that way among humans. Other factors motivate humans into being bossy, IMO. Either I'm missing something or this this study is far from groundbreaking.

and the eating continues and continues to try and calm it down. Food is a temporary fix; the chemical reaction lasts a shorter time than getting drunk or high. It takes a constant intake to constantly keep down anxiety.

That's also what the researchers (I guess, not having read the paper) are assuming. Being harrassed=stress, I agree.

However, I contend that the monkeys with good diets are aggressive because they are hungrier, and probably healthier. Humans are not that way, more agressive because they eat better. Except perhaps in societies where we have food riots. That may be where the relevance of this article lies.

Humans can be obese and agressive, while a thin person can be the docile one. I think we all have seen that.

I think the causal link is indirect and does not apply to our society, at least not until the food riots start.

It's not just threats of violence, but all sorts of anxiety that are at play here. What we see in this study is the way food plays the same role we're used to seeing with legal drugs such as alcohol and tobacco.

One of the most significant studies I have seen in the past 20 years was one showing that the greatest anxiety is felt by those with a lot of responsibility and very little control. This is found in traditional "female" jobs like stewardess and secretary. Increasingly it is experienced by nurses and teachers.

...

get for this study?

Not only that, but the insulin rush gives you a buzz you try to maintain by constantly eating until you are physically full. That's my physio-psycho-behavioral theory FWIW.

Well, maybe not "every" woman -- maybe only 99%.

Jeez Louise.

Hekate

my property

stress and depression have killed my appetite...