Depression, daily stressors and inflammatory responses to high-fat meals: when stress overrides healthier food choices

• Published in: Molecular psychiatry Vol. 22; no. 3; pp. 476 - 482
• Main Authors: Kiecolt-Glaser, J K, Fagundes, C P, Andridge, R, Peng, J, Malarkey, W B, Habash, D, Belury, M A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 01-03-2017; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 631/378; 692/53/2423; Amyloid; Behavioral Sciences; Biological Psychology; Blood pressure; Breast cancer; C-Reactive Protein; Cardiovascular disease; Cell adhesion & migration; Cell adhesion molecules; Clinical trials; Cross-Over Studies; Depression - diet therapy; Depression - metabolism; Depressive Disorder, Major - metabolism; Development and progression; Diabetes; Diet; Diet, High-Fat - adverse effects; Diet, High-Fat - psychology; Dietary Fats; Double-Blind Method; Edible oils; Fatty acids; Female; Food Preferences - psychology; Health aspects; Health care; Health psychology; Heart attacks; Helianthus; High fat diet; Humans; Inflammation - blood; Inflammation - diet therapy; Intercellular adhesion molecule 1; Intercellular Adhesion Molecule-1 - blood; Major depressive disorder; Meals; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Mental depression; Middle Aged; Neurosciences; Olive oil; original-article; Pharmacotherapy; Physical activity; Post traumatic stress disorder; Postprandial Period - physiology; Psychiatry; Risk factors; Serum Amyloid A Protein; Stress (Psychology); Stress, Psychological - metabolism; Transcription factors; Triglycerides - blood; University colleges; Vascular cell adhesion molecule 1; Vascular Cell Adhesion Molecule-1 - blood; Vegetable oils; Womens health; United States > US; Ohio
• ISSN: 1359-4184; 1476-5578
• DOI: 10.1038/mp.2016.149

Depression, stress and diet can all alter inflammation. This double-blind, randomized crossover study addressed the impact of daily stressors and a history of major depressive disorder (MDD) on inflammatory responses to high-fat meals. During two separate 9.5 h admissions, 58 healthy women (38 breast cancer survivors and 20 demographically similar controls), mean age 53.1 years, received either a high saturated fat meal or a high oleic sunflower oil meal. The Daily Inventory of Stressful Events assessed prior day stressors and the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV evaluated MDD. As expected, for a woman with no prior day stressors, C-reactive protein (CRP), serum amyloid A (SAA), intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (sICAM-1) and vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (sVCAM-1) were higher following the saturated fat meal than the high oleic sunflower oil meal after controlling for pre-meal measures, age, trunk fat and physical activity. But if a woman had prior day stressors, these meal-related differences disappeared—because the stressors heightened CRP, SAA, sICAM-1 and sVCAM-1 responses to the sunflower oil meal, making it look more like the responses to the saturated fat meal. In addition, women with an MDD history had higher post-meal blood pressure responses than those without a similar history. These data show how recent stressors and an MDD history can reverberate through metabolic alterations, promoting inflammatory and atherogenic responses.