Generally, people imagine the relationship between anxiety and obesity in a simplistic way, believing that anxious people eat “to calm emotions”, or, inversely, that obese people are anxious due to social pressure and the stigma of not being able to control food.
Now, a study conducted by researchers at McMaster University in Canada has identified a real, physiological link between body fat (adipose tissue) and anxiety. Discovery transforms our understanding of the relationship between metabolism and mental health.
Recently published in the journal Nature Metabolismthe study states that “psychological stress alters both behavior and metabolism to protect organisms.”
According to the authors, when we experience psychological stress, our body activates the “struggle or escape” mechanism . This stress alert triggers “lipolysis”, a process of breaking the fat stored in the bloodstream in fatty acids and glycerol (for use as a source of energy).
When they are released, these fats activate immune system cells that release a protein with hormonal function called GDF15. This substance travels through the bloodstream to the brain, where it binds to a receptor (gfral). This active interaction neural circuits associated with anxiety.
How did scientists discover the physical bridge between body and mind?
Instead of just observing the statistical correlations between obesity and anxiety, such as previous studies, McMaster researchers have tested their hypotheses “through a series of meticulously planned experiments involving mice,” explains a release.
To simulate the “struggle or escape” answers, the rodents received injections in the abdomen, adrenaline or saline. The so -called stress hormone induced anxious behaviors without changing the overall activity. Adipose tissue and serum samples were collected after one hour.
The analysis of gonadal white adipose tissue and serum revealed key mechanisms triggered by adrenaline. These signs suggest that peripheral metabolic changes can modulate brain responses linked to anxiety establishing a physical bridge between body and mind.
In practice, study shows for the first time as inflammatory or hormonal substances, released by adipose tissue in response to stress, can cross the blood-brain barrier, and influence neural circuits, proving that obesity and anxiety share biological bases.
By showing that there are real biological mechanisms involved, research questions the myth that health problems (both obesity and anxiety) are consequences of bad behavioral choices or moral failures.
In addition to reducing judgments, the authors can demonstrate that Adipose tissue is not just passive energy storage but an active endocrine organ, capable of influencing brain processes.
Implications for biological path discovery between adipose tissue and anxiety
For the senior author of the study, Gregory Steinberg, “understanding the connection between adipose tissue and anxiety opens new ways for research and possible treatments.” The expectation, according to the health science expert, is that the discovery can benefit people with anxiety.
For the first author of the article, Logan Townsend, postdoctoral in McMaster, the study gives anxiety treatment a different approach than usual. Instead of acting only in the brain or behavior, the idea is to intervene in metabolic pathways, that is, in the chemical processes of the body.
This includes, for example, Block Molecules like GDF15 already tested against cancer. When interrupting inflammatory or hormonal signs released by fat under stress, it is possible to break the cycle that connects adipose changes to anxiety, suggests Townsend.
Ultimately, the current study resignifies our understanding of the relationship between body and mind. In addition to suggesting that body fat is not only the passive result of eating habits, the authors show that it actively influences mental states through biochemical signs.
This content was originally published in anxiety: scientists discover biological connection with body fat on CNN Brazil.
Source: CNN Brasil
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