A Study on the Effect of High Calorie Diet on Stress Alleviation

n this study, we tried to reveal the presence of a cytokine that is regulated by weight, food intake, body fat, the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis, and corticosterone. The experiment group was given a high calorie diet and the control group was fed a normal calorie diet, and both groups were exposed to various stresses. The behavioral and hormonal change by the kinds and severity of stresses were measured via their immunologic aspect as well as their stress alleviation by voluntary high calorie food intake. After sacrificing the animal, the adrenal gland fat tissues were weighed, and the high calorie diet group showed heavier adrenal glands than those of the control group. In particular, the CVS A group had lighter adrenal gland weight than the Res B and CVS B groups, and the other groups had heavier adrenal glands. The comparison of plasma ACTH concentration to the corticosteroid secretion ratio showed that the CVS A group had decreased ACTH and an increased corticosteroid/ACTH ratio. This fact shows that the adrenal gland was highly active and, in spite of a normal corticosteroid concentration, induced too much negative feedback inhibition.