Stress can erase the benefits of choosing ‘good fat’ Researchers

Researchers from Ohio State University have found that a stressful event before eating can erase any benefits of a healthy fat choice, these results were published in Molecular Psychiatry. The researchers knew that diet and stress were related in some way however they were aiming to learn more about the interplay between stress, diet and inflammatory markers. In this study a group of women were given a breakfast with mostly saturated fats, and another group were given a similar meal but made with monounsaturated oil, which is known to be healthier. The women were then asked about the previous day’s experiences, and answers were assessed using the Daily Inventory of Stressful Events Questionnaire to determine whether they were under any stress. Blood tests were taken to assess inflammatory markers, and it was found that these were all raised in the women who had consumed the unhealthy diet. However this difference disappeared in the women who had had ‘stressful days’; the markers were high in both groups. The study has left questions regarding the specific relationship between stress and fat and the researchers are hoping to delve deeper into this field.