PHILADELPHIA, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers suggest changes in stress-related genes caused by yo-yo dieting can lead to binge eating.
Researchers led by Tracy Bale at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia linked dieting to changes in several genes important in regulating stress and eating, and suggested this may affect how the brain reacts to future stress.
The study, published in the Journal of Neuroscience, found stressed-out mice with a history of dieting ate more high-fat foods than stressed-out mice that had not been on diets.
The researchers found dieting mice developed a stress hormone -- corticosterone -- and also displayed "depression-like behavior." Also, several stress-related genes had changed.
The changes remained, even when the mice went back to their normal weights.
"These results suggest that dieting not only increases stress, making successful dieting more difficult, but that it may actually 'reprogram' how the brain responds to future stress and emotional drives for food," Bale says in a statement.
Bale and colleagues examined the behavior and hormone levels of mice. Mice given three weeks of fewer calories lost 10 percent to 15 percent of their body weight -- results similar to those in human dieting. The dieting and non-dieting mice were then put in stressful situations and food intake monitored.
