发表在11月的Psychoneuroendocrinology上的加州大学的一项研究"Comfort food is comforting to those most stressed: Evidence of the chronic stress response network in high stress women"表明，吃肥腻或甜的食物来应对压力从长远来看有可能减弱身体的应激反应。
在这项对59名绝经前期的妇女的研究中，研究人员发现，那些遭受长期压力的妇女不仅表现出更严重的情绪化进食、很大程度上拥有更多的腹部脂肪，而且日常可的松水平更低。可的松是一种驱动应激反应的激素。“摄入安慰食物更像是一把双刃剑——不仅导致减弱应激反应系统，还提高了腹部脂肪的风险水平，”这篇研究论文的合著者，心理学家Elissa Epel说。
该发现支持了该研究小组此前在啮齿动物身上进行的研究，在那项研究中他们发现长期压力通过使实验动物长期分泌糖皮质激素（如可的松，可导致对脂肪及糖的渴求）而导致腹型肥胖。不过，当腹型肥胖形成后，应对压力的可的松的分泌下降。“大鼠表现出自疗，压力性进食反过来减弱了它们的HPA轴活性。”Epel说。HPA轴是从丘脑下部至垂体到肾上腺的调节应激反应的路径。（生物谷bioon.com）
doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2011.04.005
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Comfort food is comforting to those most stressed: Evidence of the chronic stress response network in high stress women
A. Janet Tomiyam, Mary F. Dallman, Elissa S. Epel
Chronically stressed rodents who are allowed to eat calorie-dense “comfort” food develop greater mesenteric fat, which in turn dampens hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenocortical (HPA) axis activity. We tested whether similar relations exist in humans, at least cross-sectionally. Fifty-nine healthy premenopausal women were exposed to a standard laboratory stressor to examine HPA response to acute stress and underwent diurnal saliva sampling for basal cortisol and response to dexamethasone administration. Based on perceived stress scores, women were divided into extreme quartiles of low versus high stress categories. We found as hypothesized that the high stress group had significantly greater BMI and sagittal diameter, and reported greater emotional eating. In response to acute lab stressor, the high stress group showed a blunted cortisol response, lower diurnal cortisol levels, and greater suppression in response to dexamethasone. These cross-sectional findings support the animal model, which suggests that long-term adaptation to chronic stress in the face of dense calories result in greater visceral fat accumulation (via ingestion of calorie-dense food), which in turn modulates HPA axis response, resulting in lower cortisol levels.
