In our latest blog, we talked about the obesity epidemic and the various negative impacts it can have on your health. A recent US study published in the “Brain Behaviour and Immunity” journal has further highlighted the harmful outcomes of obesity by providing evidence that people who have obesity show a heightened response to stress.
A research team from Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts conducted a two-day study that exposed normal-weight and overweight people to stress tests. Their responses to stress were measured by their blood levels of Interleukin-6 (IL-6) before and after these stress tests. IL-6 is a cell signalling protein that plays a role in inflammatory and auto-immune processes. IL-6 is increased in the blood when stimulated by certain hormones responding to psychological or biological stress.
It has been previously found that tissues in obese individuals are in a chronic low-grade inflammatory state, which increases their base levels of IL-6. This was expectedly seen in the aforementioned study. On day one of the study, it was seen that both normal-weight and overweight participants showed a similar increase in IL-6 in response to stress tests. However, on the second day, it was found that IL-6 levels doubled in the overweight individuals while the normal-weight participants showed IL-6 levels similar to the first day. Additionally, it was found that Body mass index was proportional to IL-6 increases in the blood.
So this brings up the question: are increased levels of IL-6 in the blood a bad thing? In a way, yes. As mentioned before, obese individuals display a chronic low-grade inflammation in their tissues. There is extensive evidence to suggest that these long exposures to inflammatory and immune processes play a part in the development of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and some cancers. This study lends some significant insight to emphasise the damaging consequences of obesity. If you or someone you know would like to know more about some positive lifestyle changes, please have a chat to one of our friendly therapists on 1300MYREHAB (1300 469 794) or at info@myrehabteam.com.au.
References:
Rohleder N, Aringer M, Boentert M (2012) “Role of interleukin-6 in stress, sleep, and fatigue.” Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1261:88-96. [Online] Available on: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22823398 (Accessed 30th October, 2014)
Scheller J, Chalaris A, Schmidt-Arras D, Rose-John S (2010) “The pro- and anti-inflammatory properties of the cytokine interleukin-6” Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) – Molecular Cell Research 1813(5):878–888. [Online] Available on: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167488911000425 (Accessed 30th October, 2014)
[Online] Available on: http://www.univadis.co.uk/medical-news/06f823f34896abb5cc26de98f780076b?u=g7Nnk16ewgseZG%2B4W1juJf3WJnKOvJRYPVKIwTKQ6aF%2FksnnjS8%2FUlEbZgV%2FlV48&utm_source=newsletter%20email&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=medical%20updates%20-%20weekly&utm_content=17940&utm_term=automated_weekly (Accessed 30th October, 2014)
Image courtesy of Stuart Miles @freedigitalphotos.net [Online] Available on: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/Business_People_g201-_Overworked_p32969.html (Accessed 8th November, 2014)
