You may be doing everything to stay in shape by eating well.
But if you’re stressed, all your efforts mean nothing.
That is according to a new study, which finds anxiety counteracts any benefits of a healthy meal.
During times of stress, a healthy meal of steamed chicken prepared with sunflower oil is as bad for your heart as deep-fried wings, researchers at Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center claim.
The findings, published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry, shed new light on how our mental health affects our physical well-being.
Stop stressing about your weight! During times of stress, a healthy meal of steamed chicken prepared with sunflower oil is as bad for your heart as deep-fried wings a new study reveals
‘This shows us stress really does interact with the type of food you’re eating,’ lead researcher Dr Janice Kiecolt-Glaser, of Ohio State University, told Daily Mail Online.
‘No matter what women ate, if they were stressed their inflammation was higher.’
Dr Kiecolt-Glaser has already dedicated years of study to the causes of inflammation, which can lead to diabetes, heart disease and strokes.
Her work has contributed to the swelling fields of research that show both stress and diets high in saturated fat drive up inflammation.
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But now she is looking at whether the two influence the other.
She explored the topic during a wider study about depression in cancer survivors.
With her colleagues at Ohio State, Dr Kiecolt-Glaser recruited a group of women – 38 breast cancer survivors, and 20 others, who had an average age of 53.
They then randomly assigned each woman one of two breakfasts: eggs, turkey sausage, biscuits and gravy.
One was high in less-healthy saturated fat from palm oil.
DIFFERENT TYPES OF FAT
SATURATED FAT
Saturated fat, like that found in palm oil, has been shown to drive up levels of inflammation in the arteries.
It should take up no more than 10 per cent of our daily calories.
That equates to about 160 calories, or 50 grams of fat.
In practical terms, that is 8oz of low-fat milk or one tablespoon of butter.
UNSATURATED FAT
The Mediterranean diet has been shown to drive down levels of inflammation in the arteries.
Researchers believe that is down to one key element: oleic acid.
This element is found in olive oil and sunflower oil.
While we shouldn’t overdo anything, nutritionists recommend getting a good helping of oleic acid every day.
It can be found in avocado, peanut butter, and green olives.
The other used a healthier unsaturated fat from a sunflower oil with a high concentration in antiinflammatory oleic acid.
Then, without knowing which woman was eating what, the researchers interviewed them about their stress levels.
Minor irritants didn’t count as stressful, but many experienced things like dealing with a parent who has dementia, or an obstinant child.
They then drew blood and checked four different kind of blood markers for inflammation.
The stress-free women who ate the ‘healthier’ breakfast had lower levels of inflammation.
But in women who had stressful days, no matter which breakfast they ate, their inflammation levels were higher in all four blood markers.
The researchers intentionally chose a high-calorie, high-fat meal to mimic a typical fast-food meal.
Each breakfast contained 930 calories and 60 grams of fat, almost identical to the composition of a Big Mac and medium fries or a Burger King Double Whopper with cheese.
The women were given 20 minutes to eat.
‘We know that a less-healthy meal is going to have adverse effects on markers of inflammation, but we wanted to look at this meal type with different types of fat,’ said researcher Martha Belury, co-author of the study and a professor of human nutrition.
Fat types have been under the spotlight lately.
Researchers have been singing the praises of the Mediterranean diet, which is high in oleic acid from olive oil.
It is that fat that researchers believe to be the most beneficial element of the diet.
Stressors raised levels of all four harmful blood markers in the sunflower oil group, but stress did not seem to budge the readings for those who ate saturated fat.
The researchers warn this is not a free pass to eat whatever you want when you’re stressed.
‘This study should show that it makes sense to eat healthy all the time and manage stress better,’ Kiecolt-Glaser told Daily Mail Online.
If they get the funding, the researchers hope to look next at how stress levels may affect inflammation when eating a meal much lower in calories.