title: Excessive Sugar Consumption May Be a Difficult Habit to Break: A View From the Brain and Body.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Sugar overconsumption and chronic stress are growing health concerns because they both may increase the risk for obesity and its related diseases. Rodent studies suggest that sugar consumption may activate a glucocorticoid-metabolic-brain-negative feedback pathway, which may turn off the stress response and thereby reinforce habitual sugar overconsumption.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The objective of the study was to test our hypothesized glucocorticoid-metabolic-brain model in women consuming beverages sweetened with either aspartame of sucrose.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a parallel-arm, double-masked diet intervention study.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study was conducted at the University of California, Davis, Clinical and Translational Science Center's Clinical Research Center and the University of California, Davis, Medical Center Imaging Research Center.
  
  
  METHODS
  Nineteen women (age range 18-40 y) with a body mass index (range 20-34 kg/m(2)) who were a subgroup from a National Institutes of Health-funded investigation of 188 participants assigned to eight experimental groups.
  
  
  METHODS
  The intervention consisted of sucrose- or aspartame-sweetened beverage consumption three times per day for 2 weeks.
  
  
  METHODS
  Salivary cortisol and regional brain responses to the Montreal Imaging Stress Task were measured.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Compared with aspartame, sucrose consumption was associated with significantly higher activity in the left hippocampus (P = .001). Sucrose, but not aspartame, consumption associated with reduced (P = .024) stress-induced cortisol. The sucrose group also had a lower reactivity to naltrexone, significantly (P = .041) lower nausea, and a trend (P = .080) toward lower cortisol.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These experimental findings support a metabolic-brain-negative feedback pathway that is affected by sugar and may make some people under stress more hooked on sugar and possibly more vulnerable to obesity and its related conditions.
authors: Departments of Nutrition (M.S.T., K.L.S., K.D.L., P.J.H.) and Molecular Biosciences (P.J.H.), School of Veterinary Medicine, and Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology (V.M.), School of Medicine, University of California, Davis, and Stress Biology and Nutrition Research Laboratory (K.D.L.), Obesity and Metabolism Research Unit, Western Human Nutrition Research Center, Agricultural Research Service, US Department of Agriculture, Davis, California 95616; and Department of Psychiatry (E.S.E., A.E.M., R.B.), University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California 94143.
authors: Matthew S
authors: MS
authors: Tryon
authors: Departments of Nutrition (M.S.T., K.L.S., K.D.L., P.J.H.) and Molecular Biosciences (P.J.H.), School of Veterinary Medicine, and Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology (V.M.), School of Medicine, University of California, Davis, and Stress Biology and Nutrition Research Laboratory (K.D.L.), Obesity and Metabolism Research Unit, Western Human Nutrition Research Center, Agricultural Research Service, US Department of Agriculture, Davis, California 95616; and Department of Psychiatry (E.S.E., A.E.M., R.B.), University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California 94143.
authors: Kimber L
authors: KL
authors: Stanhope
authors: Departments of Nutrition (M.S.T., K.L.S., K.D.L., P.J.H.) and Molecular Biosciences (P.J.H.), School of Veterinary Medicine, and Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology (V.M.), School of Medicine, University of California, Davis, and Stress Biology and Nutrition Research Laboratory (K.D.L.), Obesity and Metabolism Research Unit, Western Human Nutrition Research Center, Agricultural Research Service, US Department of Agriculture, Davis, California 95616; and Department of Psychiatry (E.S.E., A.E.M., R.B.), University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California 94143.
authors: Elissa S
authors: ES
authors: Epel
authors: Departments of Nutrition (M.S.T., K.L.S., K.D.L., P.J.H.) and Molecular Biosciences (P.J.H.), School of Veterinary Medicine, and Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology (V.M.), School of Medicine, University of California, Davis, and Stress Biology and Nutrition Research Laboratory (K.D.L.), Obesity and Metabolism Research Unit, Western Human Nutrition Research Center, Agricultural Research Service, US Department of Agriculture, Davis, California 95616; and Department of Psychiatry (E.S.E., A.E.M., R.B.), University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California 94143.
authors: Ashley E
authors: AE
authors: Mason
authors: Departments of Nutrition (M.S.T., K.L.S., K.D.L., P.J.H.) and Molecular Biosciences (P.J.H.), School of Veterinary Medicine, and Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology (V.M.), School of Medicine, University of California, Davis, and Stress Biology and Nutrition Research Laboratory (K.D.L.), Obesity and Metabolism Research Unit, Western Human Nutrition Research Center, Agricultural Research Service, US Department of Agriculture, Davis, California 95616; and Department of Psychiatry (E.S.E., A.E.M., R.B.), University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California 94143.
authors: Rashida
authors: R
authors: Brown
authors: Departments of Nutrition (M.S.T., K.L.S., K.D.L., P.J.H.) and Molecular Biosciences (P.J.H.), School of Veterinary Medicine, and Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology (V.M.), School of Medicine, University of California, Davis, and Stress Biology and Nutrition Research Laboratory (K.D.L.), Obesity and Metabolism Research Unit, Western Human Nutrition Research Center, Agricultural Research Service, US Department of Agriculture, Davis, California 95616; and Department of Psychiatry (E.S.E., A.E.M., R.B.), University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California 94143.
authors: Valentina
authors: V
authors: Medici
authors: Departments of Nutrition (M.S.T., K.L.S., K.D.L., P.J.H.) and Molecular Biosciences (P.J.H.), School of Veterinary Medicine, and Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology (V.M.), School of Medicine, University of California, Davis, and Stress Biology and Nutrition Research Laboratory (K.D.L.), Obesity and Metabolism Research Unit, Western Human Nutrition Research Center, Agricultural Research Service, US Department of Agriculture, Davis, California 95616; and Department of Psychiatry (E.S.E., A.E.M., R.B.), University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California 94143.
authors: Peter J
authors: PJ
authors: Havel
authors: Departments of Nutrition (M.S.T., K.L.S., K.D.L., P.J.H.) and Molecular Biosciences (P.J.H.), School of Veterinary Medicine, and Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology (V.M.), School of Medicine, University of California, Davis, and Stress Biology and Nutrition Research Laboratory (K.D.L.), Obesity and Metabolism Research Unit, Western Human Nutrition Research Center, Agricultural Research Service, US Department of Agriculture, Davis, California 95616; and Department of Psychiatry (E.S.E., A.E.M., R.B.), University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California 94143.
authors: Kevin D
authors: KD
authors: Laugero
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001628:Beverages; D001921:Brain / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D004040:Dietary Carbohydrates / Q000494:pharmacology*; D002149:Energy Intake / Q000187:drug effects; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006854:Hydrocortisone / Q000378:metabolism; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D009765:Obesity / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000378:metabolism / Q000523:psychology; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D013549:Sweetening Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D015430:Weight Gain / Q000187:drug effects; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D004040:Dietary Carbohydrates; D013549:Sweetening Agents; D006854:Hydrocortisone