Psychosocial stress is associated with obesity and diet quality in Hispanic/Latino adults

Abstract

Purpose To examine the association of psychosocial stress with obesity, adiposity, and dietary intake in a diverse sample of Hispanic/Latino adults. Methods Participants were 5077 men and women, 18–74 years old, from diverse Hispanic/Latino ethnic backgrounds. Linear regression models were used to assess the association of ongoing chronic stressors and recent perceived stress with measures of adiposity (waist circumference and percentage body fat) and dietary intake (total energy, saturated fat, alternative healthy eating index [AHEI-2010]). Multinomial logistic models were used to describe the odds of obesity or overweight relative to normal weight. Results Greater number of chronic stressors and greater perceived stress were associated with higher total energy intake. Greater recent perceived stress was associated with lower diet quality as indicated by AHEI-2010 scores. Compared to no stressors, reporting ≥ 3 chronic stressors was associated with higher odds of being obese (OR = 1.5, 95%CI 1.01–2.1), greater waist circumference (β = 3.3, 95%CI 1.0–5.5) and percentage body fat (β = 1.5, 95%CI 0.4, 2.6). Conclusions The study found an association between stress and obesity and adiposity measures, suggesting that stress management techniques may be useful in obesity prevention and treatment programs that target Hispanic/Latino populations.

High perceived stress is associated with unfavorable eating behavior in overweight and obese Finns of working age

“…Although several earlier studies have found association between stress and unfavorable diet quality or food choices (Barrington et al, 2014;Groesz et al, 2012;Isasi et al, 2015;Oliver & Wardle, 1999;Wardle, Steptoe, Oliver, & Lipsey, 2000), also opposite findings, in line with our results, have been reported. Perceived stress has not been associated with diet quality measured by indices such as the Alternate Healthy Eating Index (AHEI), the Dietary Approaches to Stopping Hypertension (DASH), the Mediterranean Diet Score (Ferranti et al, 2013), and the Healthy Eating Index-2010 (HEI-2010) (Richardson et al, 2015), or dietary energy density (Grossniklaus et al, 2010), intake of energy from added sugars (Barrington et al, 2014), or omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids intake (Suominen-Taipale et al, 2010).…”

Consumption of ultra-processed foods and obesity in Brazilian adolescents and adults

“…Different stress coping mechanisms between both sexes could also be considered as a possible cause of the different findings between men and women. For instance, perceived stress has been an important predictor of both diet quality and adiposity, and women are particularly susceptible to perceived stress (de Vriendt et al, 2012;Isasi et al, 2015;Nastaskin and Fiocco, 2015). In addition, a population-based study showed different socioeconomic determination of obesity in men and women, increasing the complexity of modeling these variables (Monteiro et al, 2001).…”

The Role of Stress in Understanding Differences in Sedentary Behavior in Hispanic/Latino Adults: Results From the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos Sociocultural Ancillary Study

“…Each affirmative item was rated on a 3-point scale as “not very stressful,” “moderately stressful,” or “very stressful.” The chronic stress score was defined as the total number of stressors reported as moderately or very stressful lasting 6 months or more. 40 …”