Diabetes Health in the News: Stress Cancels Out Healthy Fat Benefits

A new study shows that when you consume high fat and high-calorie diets while stressed, your body will burn fewer calories. Stress changes the way that the body processes food, and the same result can occur with healthy fats.

A team of researchers from Ohio State University found that when women ate breakfast high in calories and healthy fats after a stressful event, their bodies burned fewer calories. Plus, they experienced raised levels of harmful health indicators within their blood. This included higher markers for arterial plaque buildup and inflammation – results that would be expected after eating a meal of “bad” fats. These findings show that stress can sabotage healthy behaviors that could lead to weight loss.

These findings were published in Molecular Psychiatry on September 20, 2016.