Effects of Emotional And Stress Eating On Obesity (advance research and conclusions)

Abstract

The mechanism in which stress causes overeating is a combination of behavioral changes in appetite, surges in cortisol and decreases in serotonin stimulating the brain reward system and resulting in suppressed insulin and increased ghrelin. This potent combination of hormonal and chemical changes result in the uncontrollable urge for unhealthy foods when stressed and/or emotional.

Stress results in uncontrolled and emotional eating and is associated with increased consumption of highly palatable foods (Groesz 2012, Oliver 1999), finally resulting in weight gain (Järvelä-Reijonen 2016).
Acute stress leads to consumption of an additional 151 calories per day (Torres 2007), leading to weight loss of up to 330g per week, or 17 kg (37 lbs) per year.

Stress stimulates hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, resulting in excess glucocorticoids (Adam 2007), increased appetite, gluconeogenesis, hyperphagia and food intake (Gluck 2006).

HPA axis stimulation interacts with brain reward pathways to motivate intake of high calorie food through release of opioids in stressful conditions (Adam 2007).

Stress suppresses insulin secretion (Peters 2010) and increases ghrelin levels (Labarthe 2014) resulting in increased food consumption.

Decreased serotonin levels induces stress and stress eating (Capello 2014, Markus 2012, Corwin 2011).
Green Camellia Sinensis (200mg to 500mg daily) reduces stress eating (Mirza 2013).

Ashwagandha root extract (300mg twice daily) reduces stress and stress eating (Choudhary 2016).

Tryptophan reduces stress-induced increase in appetite and stress eating (Capello 2014, Amer 2004).