Sweet Snacks May Slacken Stress

[Celebration]

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa003&articleID=00036BE7-688E-137A-A54083414B7F0000

Rats, like humans, love sugar. So it comes as no surprise that during two weeks of training for a recent lab experiment, the rodents queued up twice daily for small doses of sugar water. What researchers did not anticipate was the apparent effect of the sweet stuff on their stress levels: when they placed the rats in stressful circumstances at the end of those two weeks, the animals were less agitated than expected.

Multiple blood samples taken from these rats showed lower levels of stress hormones known as glucocorticoids than those that were given a saccharin solution or just plain water before being subjected to psychological or physical duress, according to research presented yesterday at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in Washington, D.C. "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," explains Yvonne Ulrich-Lai, a postdoctoral fellow in psychiatry at the University of Cincinnati who led the study.

[CTyankee]

1. I can attest to this!

In my former job where I constantly had a money goal I had to raise, I also had access to lots of food, including a regular array of sweets. My "self medication" of food because of stress made me gain weight. When I retired last December, I started going to the gym 3 times a week for a treadmill/weight lifting session. I never keep sweets in the house. I am now 20 lbs. lighter, stronger, with normal blood pressure. It's the best thing I have ever done for my health (next to giving up smoking some 25 years ago).

[Celebration]

2. "Comfort food"

It is called that for a reason. I wonder where that term came from?

But I won't bring "moms" into this discussion.

I have a cousin who cannot have one bite of sugar. Too addictive. I guess she had to go into some sort of 12 step program.

[CTyankee]

3. Has she tried exercise? It lessens stress and

thus lessens the need for "comfort food." I find that the exercise itself brings on a nice state of euphoria.

[Celebration]

7. exercise

Nothing better!! I agree!! She doesn't live in my city so I only know the bare bones of this story, so to speak. People can get addicted to exercise like they get addicted to sugar, of course.

All this makes Christmas doubly dangerous for weight gain--it's the winter and most people get less exercise. It is the winter, and people who are prone to SAD can get slightly depressed. Also in some families it can bring up unpleasant memories or tensions. And think of all that sugary food available!! It is self medication, pure and simple.

[shenmue]

4. From the Department of the Obvious...

Next they'll "discover" that sunshine makes people smile.

Can they get on to curing cancer or something?!

[pop goes the weasel]

5. no kidding

There are some benefits to this research, but I think those benefits came out last year, when it was announced that infants given something sweet in their mouths tolerate better than those who are given nothing. And even that was a big "duh" to the tens of thousands of doctors who have always stocked their medicine cabinet with lollipops.

[Celebration]

6. I hear ya!!

Of course it was obvious to moms that kids were more likely to catch colds if they got cold.....

Oh, wait, that was another day, another thread.