Chronic stress and body composition disorders: implications for health and disease

Abstract

Recent studies have suggested that body composition is key to health and disease. First, fat tissue is a complex, essential, and highly active metabolic and endocrine organ that responds to afferent signals from traditional hormone systems and the central nervous system but also expresses and secretes factors with important endocrine, metabolic, and immune functions. Second, skeletal muscle mass is an important predictor of health in adult life, while severe mass loss has been associated with the frailty of old age. Studies have shown that skeletal muscle is also an important endocrine organ that secretes factors with autocrine, paracrine, or endocrine actions, which have been associated with inflammatory processes. Third, the bone is also a systemic endocrine regulator playing a pivotal role in health and disease. Finally, proper hydration in humans has been neglected as a health factor, especially in adults. Chronic stress and stress hormone hypersecretion alone or associated with distinct disorders, such as anxiety, depression, obesity, metabolic syndrome, autoimmune disorders, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), have been associated with psychological and somatic manifestations, typically, increased fat mass, osteosarcopenia/frailty, cellular dehydration, and chronic systemic inflammation. This review aims to provide new insights into the newly developed concept of stress-related osteosarcopenic obesity and its prevention.

Sexual Dimorphism of Heart Rate Variability in Adolescence: A Case-Control Study on Depression, Anxiety, Stress Levels, Body Composition, and Heart Rate Variability in Adolescents with Impaired Fasting Glucose

“…Numerous studies have found that prediabetes is strongly associated with increased weight and BMI [24,25]. Other studies report emotional stress and emotional eating, leading to disruptive behaviors that are linked to increased weight, BMI [26,27], abnormal metabolic profiles, and inflammatory body composition phenotypes [3,8,18]. Interestingly, such conclusions cannot be drawn from the demographic, psychometric, and body composition profile of our study sample.…”

“…Additionally, the subclinical inflammation of obesity that contributes to the derangement of the metabolic equilibrium suggests that the proinflammatory cytokines secreted by the adipocytes hold a potentially important pathogenetic role [7]. The proinflammatory molecules, either produced by the adipocytes or by physical and mental stress, contribute to body composition disorders, with detrimental implications in adult health [8] (Figure 1). Prediabetes is the stage when the diabetic complications begin.…”

Inter-correlations Among Clinical, Metabolic, and Biochemical Parameters and Their Predictive Value in Healthy and Overtrained Male Athletes: The EROS-CORRELATIONS Study

“…Among which most reactions require water to occur. In the EROS study, in the groups of athletes ∼80% of the water was located intracellularly, which can be considered as an improvement of the water balance for metabolic purposes (107). Conversely, fat mass is inversely correlated with relative and absolute intracellular water, and consequently lower body water.…”

Psychotropic effects of L-theanine and its clinical properties: From the management of anxiety and stress to a potential use in schizophrenia

“…Both forms of stress have the potential to disrupt the nervous, endocrine and immune systems [13,17], yielding additional psychosomatic manifestations such as fear and anxiety [14,18]. Stressful life events are positively associated with short-, medium-and long-term health disorders [19][20][21], and act as catalysts for the exacerbation of anxiety symptoms, potentially leading to the full development of anxiety disorders [9].…”