Sugarcoated isolation: evidence that social avoidance is linked to higher basal glucose levels and higher consumption of glucose

Abstract

Objective: The human brain adjusts its level of effort in coping with various life stressors as a partial function of perceived access to social resources. We examined whether people who avoid social ties maintain a higher fasting basal level of glucose in their bloodstream and consume more sugar-rich food, reflecting strategies to draw more on personal resources when threatened. Methods: In Study 1 (N = 60), we obtained fasting blood glucose and adult attachment orientations data. In Study 2 (N = 285), we collected measures of fasting blood glucose and adult attachment orientations from older adults of mixed gender, using a measure of attachment style different from Study 1. In Study 3 (N = 108), we examined the link between trait-like attachment avoidance, manipulation of an asocial state, and consumption of sugar-rich food. In Study 4 (N = 115), we examined whether manipulating the social network will moderate the effect of attachment avoidance on consumption of sugar-rich food. Results: In Study 1, fasting blood glucose levels corresponded with higher attachment avoidance scores after statistically adjusting for time of assessment and interpersonal anxiety. For Study 2, fasting blood glucose continued to correspond with higher adult attachment avoidance even after statistically adjusting for interpersonal anxiety, stress indices, age, gender, social support and body mass. In Study 3, people high in attachment avoidance consume more sugar-rich food, especially when reminded of asocial tendencies. Study 4 indicated that after facing a stressful task in the presence of others, avoidant people gather more sugar-rich food than more socially oriented people. Conclusion: Results are consistent with the suggestion that socially avoidant individuals upwardly adjust their basal glucose levels and consume more glucose-rich food with the expectation of increased personal effort because of limited access to social resources. Further investigation of this link is warranted.

Low Adherence to the Mediterranean Diet in Isolated Adolescents: The Mediation Effects of Stress

“…Lonely people could have higher neuronal metabolic activity, with high glucose requirements, and hence consume more sugar in comparison to individuals with better social relationships. A recent study has corroborated these conclusions through the analysis of blood glucose levels in individuals with high social avoidance [27]. In this study, individuals with social avoidance tendencies exhibited higher basal blood circulation glucose and higher glucose consumption.…”

“…For that reason, in this theory, social relationships play a main role in several physiological processes related to the body homeostasis, such as eating behavior. In this sense, a recent research has evaluated how the lack of social relationships, characterized by high levels of loneliness, could be related with dysfunctional eating behavior [26,27].…”

Development and Validation of the Social Thermoregulation and Risk Avoidance Questionnaire (STRAQ-1)

“…Perhaps one of the more important caveats is that, a priori, we had thought a kind of 'Social Metabolism' to be linked to attachment. After all, attachment avoidance has been linked before to levels of fasting glucose, which has been based on the argument that people who are avoidant mobilize more energy to cope with their (social) world (Ein-Dor et al, 2015). We detected one subscale, but as it counted fewer than three items, we chose not to retain this subscale.…”

Bringing Self-Kindness Into the Workplace: Exploring the Mediating Role of Self-Compassion in the Associations Between Attachment and Organizational Outcomes

“…Thus, having received suboptimal care in their childhood leads them, as adults, to adopt a deactivating strategy of attachment needs. Therefore, they diminish their desire to receive support from others and instead rely heavily on themselves and on their personal resources (Ein-Dor et al, 2015; Mikulincer and Shaver, 2017). Individual differences in attachment styles have been shown to predict a wide variety of measures of relationship quality, mental health, stress management, and human functioning, as reported in hundreds of published studies (Mikulincer and Shaver, 2017, 2019; Fraley, 2019).…”