Could Sugary Beverages Reduce Stress Hormones In Women?

Previous studies have discussed the dangers of consuming sugary beverages, which can increase the risk of numerous health conditions or exacerbate previously existing ones.

Yet now, new findings published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism are looking at things from a bit of a different perspective. Could drinking sugary beverages suppress cortisol, a hormone that's linked to both stress and weight gain, in the brain?

Researchers found that drinks sweetened with aspartame did not have the same stress-relieving effect, but ones that contained regular sugar did, particularly in women.

"This is the first evidence that high sugar - but not aspartame - consumption may relieve stress in humans," said one of the study's authors, Kevin D. Laugero, of the University of California, Davis, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service, in a news release. "The concern is psychological oremotional stress could trigger the habitual overconsumption of sugar and amplify sugar's detrimental health effects, including obesity."

The study consisted of 19 women between the ages of 18 and 40. Eight of the participants consumed aspartame-sweetened beverages and 11 of the beverages were sweetened with sugar over a period of 12 days. The women consumed the drinks at breakfast, lunch and dinner and were then instructed to not drink any other sugary beverages thereafter.

All were required to undergo a functional MRI screening and perform math tests to demonstrate the brain's stress response. They also had to provide saliva samples that examined cortisol levels, which is a hormone made by the adrenalin glands that is essential for the body's response to stress.

The study results showed women who drank sugar-sweetened beverages had a diminished cortisol response to the math test  and more activity in the hippocampus  than those who consumed the artificially sweetened beverages.

"The results suggest differences in dietary habits may explain why some people underreact to stressful situations and others overreact," Laugero concluded. "Although it may be tempting to suppress feelings of stress, a normal reaction to stress is important to good health. Research has linked over- and under-reactivity in neural and endocrine stress systems to poor mental and physical health."