Chronic stress or diet-induced obesity is rarely associated with excess cortisol levels

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Wednesday, September 29, 2010 8:19 am Email this article
There are a number of nutritional supplements being sold for weight loss which claim that excess belly fat is caused by elevated levels of the stress hormone cortisol, and their product will help you lose belly fat by reducing cortisol levels. This may be nonsense in the overwhelming majority of cases because "chronic stress or [diet-induced obesity] is rarely associated with [excess cortisol levels]" according to a recent paper about stress and obesity. Normal After 2 Weeks of Daily Stress

Cortisol levels returned to normal after 2 weeks of daily stress

They found that cortisol levels were elevated by short-term stress, but returned to normal levels when the daily stress continued for 2 weeks or more.

REFERENCE

Kuo LE, Kitlinska JB, Tilan JU, Li L, Baker SB, Johnson MD, Lee EW, Burnett MS, Fricke ST, Kvetnansky R, Herzog H, Zukowska Z. Neuropeptide y acts directly in the periphery on fat tissue and mediates stress-induced obesity and metabolic syndrome. Nature Medicine. 1 July 2007.

AUTHOR’S CORRESPONDENCE

Zofia Zukowska
Department of Physiology & Biophysics
Georgetown University Medical Center
3900 Reservoir Rd. NW, BSB 234
Washington, DC 20057, USA
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