A donut a day keeps stress at bay...

[Jabba]

Now I don't feel so guitly...

Don't tell your dentist, but an American neuroscientist says sugary snacks appear to defuse the harmful stresses in our minds and bodies alike, and paradoxically, these sugar bursts may even fight obesity.

So chocolate is diet food?

Not if you binge on it, says Yvonne Ulrich-Lai. But she believes the sugar in one Coke or a Tim Hortons doughnut on stressful days deactivates a chemical reaction in our bodies that is closely linked to obesity, and also to upsetting our defence against illness.

One more detail: Genuine sugar works. Synthetic sweeteners such as aspartame don't come close.

Ms. Ulrich-Lai is a neuroscientist at the University of Cincinnati, and also a chocolate lover. Her work shows that stressed-out lab rats produce a group of hormones called glucocorticoids, which also appear in stressed humans.

Stress hormones are useful, to a point. Our adrenal gland pumps them out to help us mobilize energy in physically or psychologically stressful situations -- for instance, for the "fight or flight" response.

But when we bombard our bodies with too much of them over a long period, they can depress our immune systems and lead to abdominal fat buildup.

That's where sugar comes in. Sugar doesn't just help the medicine go down. It is the medicine, and modest amounts lessen the production of these stress hormones in rats.

The same may apply in humans under psychological stresses ranging from public speaking to the death of a family member, the Cincinnati researcher says. Physical stresses helped by sugar could range from injury to illness, or even prolonged exposure to cold.

"We seem to be seeing some effect from the calories themselves, and we get a partial effect from the artificial sweeteners," suggesting that "comfort food" may soothe our emotions, she said.

But she thinks there's more to sugar's effect than emotions can explain, which is why sugar works better than aspartame. "As neuroscientists, we're interested in going after how this is happening, (and) what brain regions are involved. It could imply some insight into human nature. I think when you talk to people you find that when they're stressed, they like to eat, especially things that taste good."

She calls this "self-medicating," and she does it herself.

"I like sweets. I'll admit that. Chocolate is always good."

Reporters always understand about chocolate, she says. "Especially the female reporters."

In her experiment, she gave one group of rats a normal diet, while others had a small, sugary drink twice a day -- about the equivalent of 200 calories a day for a human (one Tim Hortons chocolate dip doughnut, or a bit more than a can of Coke Classic). A third group got artificial sweetener.

Then she put the rats through stress tests. The sugar-fed rats recovered with significantly lower levels of stress hormones in the blood than the other two groups.

Ms. Ulrich-Lai is presenting her results this week at the annual Society for Neuroscience meeting in Washington, D.C.

The next step, the university says, is to track the specific effects of sugar on how the rats' brains work.

[ChadTower]

This is just a cover... she also refers to masturbation as "self medicating".

[allroy1975]

This is just a cover... she also refers to masturbation as "self medicating".

so do I...but I'm "over medicated"

[Ed_McCarron]

Then she put the rats through stress tests.

How, exactly, does one stress out a rat???

[ChadTower]

With cats.

[Ed_McCarron]

Fair answer.

For some reason, I was picturing the woman telling the rats that they were being downsized due to lack of budget.

[missioncontrol]

Re: A donut a day keeps stress at bay...

Ahhh you're taking the ancient old police man philosophy

 
 
 
 

[DrewKaree]

This is just a cover... she also refers to masturbation as "self medicating".

so do I...but I'm "over medicated"

Maybe you've actually got a steady drip working

[Thenasty]

a donut a day, keeps the pigs off my tail.

[missioncontrol]

bad cop, no donut

what not to say to a cop if after he pulls you over and ask if you have been drinking:

"Gee oficer have you been eating donuts? your eyes are a little glazed"

thank you, thank you,

I'll be here all week

[duffjr]

Then she put the rats through stress tests.

How, exactly, does one stress out a rat???

torture=stress