Stress during pregnancy leads to abdominal obesity in mice offspring

ScienceDaily (July 31, 2012) — New research suggests that the neuropeptide Y in plasma and its Y2 receptor in visceral fat play an important role in obesity.

See Also:Health & MedicineObesityDiet and Weight LossStaying HealthyMind & BrainDieting and Weight ControlNutrition ResearchStressReferenceAppetiteNutrition and pregnancyGeneral fitness trainingDiabetes mellitus type 2

A new report involving mice suggests that a relationship exists between maternal metabolic or psychological stress and the development of obesity, type 2 diabetes, and metabolic syndrome in her offspring. What's more, the report shows that if the stress cannot be reduced or eliminated, manipulating the neuropeptide Y (NPY) system in visceral fat may prevent maternal stress-induced obesity from occurring in the next generation. This discovery is reported in the August 2012 issue of The FASEB Journal.

"Obesity is a worldwide disease. Here we found that maternal stress, psychologically and metabolically, increases abdominal obesity and glucose intolerance in the next generation in a sex-specific manner, which is mediated by the NPY system in visceral fat," said Ruijun Han, a researcher involved in the work from the Department of Integrative Biology and Physiology, Stress Physiology Center at the University of Minnesota. "Our study suggested that NPY in the platelet-rich plasma and its Y2 receptor in the visceral fat, play an important role in maternal stress-programmed abdominal obesity and metabolic syndrome in offspring."

To make this discovery, Young and colleagues fed different groups of pregnant mice a low protein diet during pregnancy and lactation; a normal protein diet during pregnancy and lactation; or a low protein diet only during pregnancy. After weaning, all the pups were fed high fat diets for 18 weeks, and metabolic parameters and expression of NPY system in periphery tissues were monitored and measured.

"There are a lot of reasons why expectant mothers should not be under stress," said Gerald Weissmann, M.D., Editor-in-Chief of The FASEB Journal, "and this report adds yet another reason. What's most interesting, however, is that it provides some insight into how we can counter the negative effects of stress, even when it's not possible to reduce or eliminate the stressors themselves."

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Health Tip: Managing Workplace Stress

HealthDay – 1 hr 50 mins ago (HealthDay News) -- No one's job is stress-free. But it's important to curtail workplace stress as much as possible to help quash possible side effects, including weight gain, high blood pressure and increased risk of heart attack.

The American Council on Exercise says you can help reduce workplace stress by:

Not worrying about previous assignments and how you could have done better. Instead, focus on the tasks in front of you.Being friendly and smiling at work, and making some time for friendly conversations with co-workers.Communicating clearly with others to avoid misunderstandings and frustration.Staying positive, and not dwelling solely on problems.Eating well and exercising.Communicating frequently with your manager.Exploring other opportunities -- if you are very unhappy at work and don't see a possible resolution.

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Tyrosine Helps Maintain Mental Ability Under Stress

Tyrosine, a simple amino acid Building blocks of peptides and protein and have multiple roles of function in life including muscle function, growth, detoxification and metabolic pathways, and neurotransmitter function., is the precursor for several important neurotransmitters, including dopamine1 and norepinephrine. These neurotransmitters help you have drive, alertness, and motivation – giving you horsepower to get things done. Tyrosine also helps make thyroid hormone, coenzyme Enzyme in its most active form that assists with biochemical transport and is considered an active constituent. Q10, and melanin skin pigmentation. A unique form of tyrosine, n-acetyl-l-tyrosine, is more soluble, very easy to absorb, and readily crosses the blood brain barrier.

Just as a carpenter needs 2-by-4-inch lumber and plywood before building anything, so it is that your brain needs tyrosine before it can make norepinephrine and dopamine – a fact that has been well established for 30 years2. Researchers found that simple use of tyrosine could help with depression3. This is rather interesting, since inflammation and other factors are significant in blocking mood. The fact that a simple nutrient precursor could be of any help at all in boosting neurotransmitters in people who don’t feel good represents a first line and fundamental approach to mood boosting. Animal studies help confirm the anti-stress effects of tyrosine4, showing that tyrosine can prevent inappropriate weight loss from stress. The nature of the findings led the researchers to conclude that “Tyrosine might be a potential therapy for cognitive and mood problems associated with the maintenance of a reduced body weight in the treatment of obesity.”

Tyrosine offsets fatigue and stress, helping to keep your brain alert and more functional. A variety of human studies show that tyrosine boosts mental performance under stress. Tyrosine was shown to prevent mental performance decline that is associated with sleep deprivation5. Under conditions of highly stressful training6 tyrosine was shown to improve cognitive performance and lower blood pressure. Tyrosine offset the effects of cold temperatures7 (another form of stress) on cognitive performance – meaning it might help you function better in the winter.

Tyrosine is a basic nutritional building block for nerve transmission involving alertness, drive, and motivation. The supplemental use seems especially important under stress, which is a test of neurotransmitter function. Since a loss of dopamine results in inappropriate food cravings and the risk for addiction, maintaining basic dopamine status during times of stress not only helps cognitive performance but is also likely to reduce the risk for “quick fix” brain stimulants that are generally unhealthy.

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Does Stress Management Slow MS?

HealthDay – 1 hr 2 mins ago WEDNESDAY, July 11 (HealthDay News) -- When researcher David Mohr began working with people with multiple sclerosis about 20 years ago, patients would tell him that stress made their disease worse. At the time, most physicians didn't believe there was a connection, he said.

But a study published online July 11 in Neurology adds to growing evidence that suggests a link between stress and flare-ups of the neurological disease. The research shows that participating in weekly stress management therapy prevented the development of new brain lesions, indicators of the impact of the disease in the brain. But not long after the treatment stopped, new brain lesions appeared.

"It's clear that stress plays an important role in multiple sclerosis, and therapy may be a useful additional treatment, along with drug therapy," said Mohr, author of the study and professor of preventive medicine at Northwestern University in Chicago.

Multiple sclerosis (MS), an autoimmune disease that affects the brain and spinal cord, is caused by damage to the protective covering that surrounds nerve cells. According to the U.S. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, 250,000 to 350,000 people in the United States have the disease.

The research involved 121 people with MS who were randomly assigned to either receive stress management therapy or no such therapy. Those in the treatment group participated in 16 sessions of 50 minutes each over 24 weeks, with follow-up six months later.

More than three-quarters of the participants were women, who have a higher incidence of MS, and their average age was 43.

Those in the therapy group were taught by licensed psychologists in private sessions how to better anticipate stressful events that could come up in the course of daily life, such as hectic times at work, or a visit from an unwelcome family member, said Mohr.

The participants also learned that for an event or a situation to be stressful, it must present two factors: it has to feel like a threat to something they highly value, and they must believe they don't have any control over the situation, Mohr noted.

Mohr explained that the therapy helped people better estimate the potential impact of a perceived threat and gave them ways to better manage the stress. "Most people overestimate the threat and underestimate their ability to manage it," he said.

For those situations when stress couldn't be avoided, participants were taught meditation and relaxation strategies to calm their physical responses.

To assess the potential impact of the therapy on the individuals' physiological response to MS, the researchers performed a series of MRI scans of the brains of both groups of participants (those receiving therapy and those who didn't), using two types of scanning. Assessments were done before the therapy and at regular intervals during and after the treatment period.

Some patients were injected with gadolinium, which helps detect a type of brain lesion that allows the immune system to attack and damage brain cells. Others were scanned to find what is known as T2 brain lesions, commonly assessed when drugs for MS are evaluated for their effectiveness in controlling the disease.

Overall, MRIs showed that the stress management therapy reduced both kinds of new brain lesions common in people with MS. For instance, 77 percent of the therapy group was free of new gadolinium-enhancing lesions during treatment compared to 55 percent of the "no-therapy" group. In addition, 70 percent of the therapy group remained free of new T2 lesions during treatment versus 43 percent of the other group.

However, new brain lesions were detected after the therapy stopped.

Nicholas La Rocca, vice president for health care delivery and policy research for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society in New York City, said therapy often has only a short-term impact on patients.

"As psychologists, we always hope that when people are in treatment they are learning life skills that they'll continue to use for their benefit. Maybe that's a little naive," he said. He pointed out that some people may need to carry on with the treatment for a longer period of time, or may benefit from ongoing intervention.

"Therapy isn't too different from taking disease-modifying drugs. You may not be able to just drop the treatment," La Rocca said.

Was stress shown to cause the brain lesions directly? Mohr said he didn't think so. "Stress is one factor among many," Mohr said. "But stress makes it more difficult for the body to regulate inflammatory processes."

While the study didn't find that stress management treatment helps control MS-related symptoms, Mohr said he believes stress management is beneficial for MS patients and improves their quality of life. "But it's premature to say it improves the disease itself," he said.

More information

For more about multiple sclerosis, visit the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

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Poor Sleep Affects Immune System Much Like Physical Stress

HealthDay – 7 mins ago MONDAY, July 2 (HealthDay News) -- Severe sleep deprivation has the same effect on the immune system as physical stress, according to a new study.

Researchers in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom found sleep loss triggers the production of white blood cells, known as granulocytes, particularly at night.

"The granulocytes reacted immediately to the physical stress of sleep loss and directly mirrored the body's stress response," explained the study's lead author, Katrin Ackermann, a postdoctoral researcher at the Eramus MC University Medical Center Rotterdam in the Netherlands, in a news release from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

In conducting the study, the researchers tracked the white blood cell count of 15 healthy young men who followed a strict schedule of eight hours of sleep every day for a week, then compared that with their white blood cell counts during 29 hours of sleep deprivation.

The investigators found that the white blood cells showed a loss of day-night rhythmicity and also increased during the sleep deprivation.

The research was published in the July issue of the journal Sleep.

Previous studies have shown sleep deprivation is linked to the development of diseases, including obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure. Prior research has also suggested that chronic sleep loss is a risk factor for impairment of the immune system.

Looking ahead, the study authors concluded that future research should examine exactly how sleep loss contributes to the development of certain diseases.

"Future research will reveal the molecular mechanisms behind this immediate stress response and elucidate its role in the development of diseases associated with chronic sleep loss," said Ackermann in the news release. "If confirmed with more data, this will have implications for clinical practice and for professions associated with long-term sleep loss, such as rotating shift work."

More information

The American Psychological Association has more about the importance of sleep.

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Koreans flee stress and the city for rural idylls

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What killed Lenin? Stress didn't help, poison eyed

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Health Tip: Stress Fracture of the Foot

HealthDay – 4 hrs ago (HealthDay News) -- The bones of your feet are designed to absorb the weight and energy of the rest of your moving body. But when nearby muscles are overused and can no longer absorb the shock of running, jogging or playing sports, for example, your foot may develop a stress fracture.

The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons says possible warning signs of stress fracture of the foot include:

Pain that gradually worsens over time, increasing during weight-bearing activities and improving during rest.Swelling at the top of the foot and outside the ankle.Tenderness or soreness.Bruising.

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Why Stress Might Make You Sick

HealthDay – 21 mins ago MONDAY, April 2 (HealthDay News) -- A new study involving the common cold may help explain why stress, which dampens the immune system, seems to trigger inflammation in many people.

That would appear contradictory, because the immune system creates inflammation (for example, the redness around a wound) to help the body heal. But the research suggests that high and long-term levels of stress contribute to inflammation.

In turn, the inflammation can lead to conditions such as heart disease, asthma and autoimmune disorders, in which the immune system turns against the body.

The research "suggests the kind of diseases that are going to be affected by stress," said study lead author Sheldon Cohen, professor of psychology at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. "They're diseases in which inflammation is a key aspect."

Over the past five to six decades, researchers have linked stress to disease, Cohen said. "There's not much question that stressed people are at greater risk for developing some of these diseases or having them become more severe. A little bit less clear is exactly how that happens. How does stress get under the skin to affect disease outcomes?"

One possibility is that stressed people are simply unhealthier -- smoking and drinking more and sleeping less. In that area, the challenge is figuring out which came first, stress or unhealthy decisions.

The other possibility is that the body's hormones that respond to stress play a role.

In the new study, investigators performed two experiments, involving more than 300 people, to gain more insight. The researchers asked the participants about the stresses in their lives and then exposed them to cold viruses to see if they got sick.

After adjusting the statistics for various factors, the researchers found that people whose bodies had higher levels of ongoing psychological stress -- such as that caused by divorce -- were less able to dampen inflammation. This seemed to have something to do with their immune cells being less sensitive to a hormone that turns off inflammation.

The people with more stress were also at higher risk of developing a cold, according to the report published online April 2 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Dr. Andrew Miller, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Emory University School of Medicine who studies how stress affects the immune system, said the research "provides a very concrete example of how chronic stress and its effects on the immune system can affect our daily lives in a very real-world context."

However, this is just part of a wider picture of how stress affects the body, Miller cautioned.

"In ancestral times, a stressful environment would have a high likelihood of involving some form of fighting and being wounded and thereby infected," he said. "Inflammation is a process in the body that is essential to fighting infections and healing wounds. Therefore, the induction of inflammation by stress is a way for the body to prepare itself for battle in an environment that represents danger of attack."

While the study uncovered an association between chronic psychological stress and inflammation, it did not prove a cause-and-effect relationship.

More information

For more about stress, visit the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

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