Eating THIS Type of Fatty foods During Stress Could Double Your Cardiovascular Risk! Find Out the Surprising Culprit Now!”
Consuming high-Fatty foods during stressful periods may hinder the body’s ability to recover from the impact of stress, according to recent research published in Frontiers in Nutrition and Nutrients. The study, conducted by researchers from the University of Birmingham, involved young, healthy adults who were given a breakfast of two butter croissants before engaging in a mentally stressful math task.
READ: Garlic Unleashed: 5 Creative Paths to Weight Loss
The experiment, designed to simulate everyday stress, revealed that individuals who consumed high-fat meals experienced reduced brain oxygenation in the pre-frontal cortex during stress, with a 39% decrease in oxygenated hemoglobin compared to those who consumed a low-fat meal. Additionally, the negative impact on mood persisted both during and after the stress episode. The study also detected a lasting reduction in arterial elasticity, a measure of vascular function, up to 90 minutes post-stress.
Fatty foods
Rosalind Baynham, a doctoral researcher at the University of Birmingham, explained that fatty food consumption during stress led to a 1.74% decrease in vascular function, as measured by Brachial Flow-mediated dilatation (FMD). Previous research has indicated that a 1% reduction in vascular function corresponds to a 13% increase in cardiovascular disease risk. The impairment in vascular function persisted longer when participants had consumed high-fat croissants.
For individuals already at an elevated risk of cardiovascular disease, the impact could be more severe, highlighting the importance of considering these findings, especially for those in high-stress occupations. Jet Veldhuijzen van Zanten, a Professor of Biological Psychology at the University, emphasized the significance of the study for individuals dealing with chronic stress.
The research also suggested that consuming low-fat foods and beverages may result in less disruption to stress recovery. After consuming a low-fat meal, individuals still experienced a negative effect on vascular function (1.18% decrease in FMD), but this decline returned to normal 90 minutes after the stressful event.
Furthermore, additional research has indicated that consuming “healthier” foods, particularly those rich in polyphenols such as cocoa, berries, grapes, apples, and other fruits and vegetables, can completely prevent the impairment in vascular function associated with stress.
