Stress-eating fatty foods can lead to more stress: Study

SINGAPORE - Heavy workloads, impending deadlines and long hours could make you reach for yet another curry puff. But that comforting bite might be impairing your body’s ability to deal with stress.

A study from the University of Birmingham has shown that eating fatty foods while stressed can reduce the flow of blood to the brain and affect vascular function. This, in turn, can negatively impact your mental health and cognitive function as well as increase the risk of heart disease.

Participants in the study, aged between 20 and 30 years old, were given a high-fat diet and low-fat diet before undergoing a test.

As part of the test, they had to do mental sums at an increasing rate and were alerted when they got an answer wrong. They were also told they were in direct competition with other participants and lost points for each incorrect answer, as well as being filmed while completing the task and made to watch themselves.

The study’s first author, Ms Rosalind Baynham, a PhD researcher at the University of Birmingham, told science news website Technology Networks the test simulated everyday stress that the participants might have to deal with at work or at home.

She said: “When we get stressed, different things happen in the body, our heart rate and blood pressure go up, our blood vessels dilate and blood flow to the brain increases. We also know that the elasticity of our blood vessels – a measure of vascular function – declines following mental stress.”

The study found that consuming fatty foods while stressed reduced vascular function by 1.74 per cent with reduced arterial elasticity in participants detected up to 90 minutes after the stressful event was over. 

Previous studies have shown that a lower decrease in vascular function – 1 per cent – can increase the risk of cardiovascular disease by 13 per cent.

Another of the study’s authors, Associate Professor Jet Veldhuijzen van Zanten, said: “For people who already have an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, the impacts could be even more serious.

“We deal with stress all the time, but especially for those of us in high-stress jobs and at risk of cardiovascular disease, these findings should be taken seriously. This research can help us make decisions that reduce risks rather than make them worse.”

The researchers suggested that those who were feeling stressed turn instead to fruits or vegetables to avoid impacting their vascular function.

Ms Baynham said: “The world is an incredibly stressful place right now, and even without outside factors such as war or a cost-of-living crisis, stress is something we all need to deal with.

“So, next time you are in a big meeting or taking part in a job interview, maybe try and resist the free biscuits and go for some berries instead. You might find you feel more relaxed and can cope with the stress just a little bit better.”