Sugar Sweented Beverage May Supress Body's Stress Response

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There was a recent study that looked at the relationship between sugar sweetened beverages and non-sugar sweetened beverages and how the body responds in respect to stress. This double-masked diet intervention studied the effects of consuming sugar and aspartame-sweetened beverages. This study was conducted on 19 women between the ages of 18-40. Eight women were assigned to consume the aspartame-sweetened beverages, while eleven women were assigned to consume sugar-sweetened beverages for twelve days. Over the twelve day period the women were to consume one of the assigned beverages at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The participants were instructed not to consume any other sugar-sweetened beverages including fruit juice. 


For three and a half days before and after the study the women consumed a low fat diet and stayed at the UC Davis Clinical and Translational Science Center's Clinical Research Center. Before and after the twelve day intervention the women would take a math test and then undergo an MRI to gauge the brain's stress response. The participants also provided saliva samples to measure levels of cortisol, a hormone that is made by the adrenal gland that is essential in stress response. 


The researchers found that the women who drank the sugar-sweetened beverages had lower levels of cortisol after the math test, compared to the women who drank the aspartame-sweetened beverages. Also, the women who drank sugar-sweetened beverages had more activity in the hippocampus, an area of the brain that is involved in memory and responds to stress, compared to the women who drank the aspartame-sweetened beverages. However, there is concern that sugary beverages such as pop and juice are linked with obesity rates. According to the CDC half of the U.S. consumes sugar-sweetened beverages on any given day. 


This study is the first evidence that sugar and not aspartame may relieve stress in humans. There is more research needed in this area and this is a start. 


 Matthew S. Tryon, Kimber L. Stanhope, Elissa S. Epel, Ashley E. Mason, Rashida Brown, Valentina Medici, Peter J. Havel, Kevin D. Laugero. Excessive Sugar Consumption May Be a Difficult Habit to Break: A View From the Brain and Body. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 2015; jc.2014-4353 DOI: 10.1210/jc.2014-4353


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