A new study has revealed that if you eat junk foods like samosa, French fries, and burgers when feeling stressed out, it can increase your anxiety levels. Usually, people often consume high-calorie food to feel good leading to stress-eating.
The study, conducted by the University of Colorado at Boulder, found that in animals, a high-fat diet disrupts resident gut bacteria, alters behaviour and influences brain chemicals in ways that increase anxiety.
According to Lead author Christopher Lowry, a professor of integrative physiology at CU Boulder, just a high-fat diet that could alter the expression of these genes in the brain is extraordinary.
“The high-fat group essentially had the molecular signature of a high anxiety state in their brain,” Mr Lowry added in the study published in the journal Biological Research as quoted by news agency IANS.
During the study the researchers analysed the animals’ microbiome or gut bacteria. When compared to the control group, the group eating a high-fat diet gained weight, the researchers found. However, the animals also showed significantly less diversity of gut bacteria.
The team of researchers also found that the participants who consumed high-fat diet showed higher expression of three genes involved in the production and signalling of the neurotransmitter serotonin, which is associated with stress and anxiety.
While serotonin is often called a “feel-good brain chemical,” certain subsets of serotonin neurons can, when activated, prompt anxiety-like responses in animals, they found.
Lowry suspects that an unhealthy microbiome compromises the gut lining, enabling bacteria to slip into the body’s circulation and communicate with the brain via the vagus nerve, a pathway from the gastrointestinal tract to the brain.
“If you think about human evolution, it makes sense. We are hard-wired to really notice things that make us sick so we can avoid those things in the future,” Lowry said.
The researchers also said that not all fats are bad, and healthy fats like those found in fish, olive oil, nuts and seeds can be anti-inflammatory and good for the brain.