EATING an ordinary meal can trigger dangerous stress hormones in men even slightly overweight, according to Deakin University researchers.
“We found that men who were even moderately overweight or obese had a higher cortisol or stress hormone response to eating the lunch than lean men,” said Dr Anne Turner from Deakin’s Centre for Physical Activity and Nutrition Research.
“This isn’t like the stress that we get from busy lives and financial pressures; it is our body’s physical response when we eat food.
“Eating places a demand on our body and we usually eat a meal three times a day, so it is important to understand how our body reacts when we eat food and just what influence body fat may have.
“If overweight or obese men’s bodies react this way after every meal, they may be at increased risk of developing stress-related chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease and metabolic syndrome in the long term.”
A recent C-PAN study published in BMC Obesity found that men who had a higher level of body fat actually had a higher stress hormone response in their body after eating a standardised lunch, compared to lean men.
Thirty-six men aged between 50 and 70 were involved in the study. They provided saliva samples and had their blood pressure and heart rate checked before the meal and regularly in the two hours during and following the lunch.
The test meal, made by the participants themselves, was 22 per cent protein, 53 per cent carbohydrates and 25 per cent fat and included bread, margarine, processed meat — ham or chicken — tomato, cucumber, cheese, nuts, fruit bars and a fruit juice drink and water.
Dr Turner said the lunch in the study is similar to the average Australian meal for men — 22 per cent protein, 45 per cent carbohydrate and 32 per cent fat — as reported in the 1995 National Nutrition Survey.
“The results of our study do suggest that even a very normal lunch can elicit a significant stress hormone response in overweight or obese men and if this happens on a regular basis it may lead to health concerns for these men,” Dr Turner said.
