Blackmores Institute

Study participants were drawn from the population-based cohort study, the Korean Genome and Epidemiology Study (KoGES) with more than 126,000 middle-aged adult participants enrolled. Stress levels of participants were measured using the psychosocial well-being index.
 
 Results showed that increased stress levels were positively associated with the risks of diabetes.
 
 “As the stress levels rose, the intake of grains increased, and the intake of fruits and vegetables decreased. Participants with higher stress levels showed lower dietary variation score (DVS) than those with lower stress levels.
 
 “Dietary variety refers to the total number of different food items that are consumed individually for a certain period of time and is a major aspect of diet quality. Eating a more varied diet is known to be related to higher nutritional adequacy; thus, several dietary guidelines have highlighted the value of eating a variety of foods,” the authors said.
 
 While previous studies have suggested links between dietary variation and chronic diseases such as metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular disease, the authors claim that no study has investigated the effect of dietary variety on risk of diabetes, stress has been associated with the development of type 2 diabetes. 
 
 “Chronic activation of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis due to long-term stress may interfere with cortisol release regulation which has a direct impact on insulin sensitivity and reduces insulin secretion.” 
 
 “In this study, dietary variety was lower in participants with higher stress levels than those with lower stress levels. Stress is known to induce the activation of the sympathetic adrenal medulla system, along with the release of adrenaline and noradrenaline, which suppress appetite. As appetite decreases and it can be assumed that the amount and number of foods consumed decreases,” the authors explained. 
 
 According to the study, participants with higher stress levels consumed more grains and had fewer fruits and vegetables indicating that stressful situations can lead to an increase consumption of foods such as rice, bread, and noodles, while reducing the intake of other foods and this increased intake of carbohydrates, low fibre and antioxidants may aggravate glucose intolerance and increase the risk of diabetes. 
 
 “Higher stress levels were associated with an increased prevalence of diabetes and in the multivariate analyses, men with the highest stress levels had higher odds of diabetes than those with the lowest stress levels (odds ratio [OR] for tertile 3 compared with tertile 1, OR = 1.34 (95% CI: 1.24–1.45) p-trend &lt; 0.0001). Women with the highest stress levels also showed higher odds of diabetes (OR = 1.29 (95% CI: 1.19–1.40) p-trend &lt; 0.0001),” the authors reported.
 
 The authors concluded that their study data from KoGES demonstrated that high levels of psychological stress are associated with the risk of type 2 diabetes in Korean adults and that highly stressed individuals with a low variety of dietary intake showed a higher OR for diabetes compared with those with lower stress levels and higher DVS. These results therefore suggest that psychological stress accompanied by a low-variety diet is partially related to diabetes risk.
 
 Source:
 Nutrients. 2020. DOI: <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/nu12092612 ">10.3390/nu12092612</a>

Increased stress levels may not only contribute to poor dietary choices, they could also be increasing your risk of chronic disease such as type 2 diabetes mellitus according to a Korean study published in journal, Nutrients.

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