Sugary drink intake affects cortisol response, adiposity in minority adolescents

LOS ANGELES — Black and Hispanic adolescents who consume high amounts of sugar-sweetened beverages are more likely to have increased visceral adipose tissue and a higher cortisol awakening response vs. those who consume less than one 8-oz sugary drink per day, according to recent study findings presented at ObesityWeek.

Grace Shearrer, a PhD student in the department of nutritional science, Imaging Research Center at the University of Texas at Austin, said analysis from a cross-sectional study of black and Hispanic adolescents shows that sugar-sweetened beverage intake influenced cortisol levels and visceral fat accumulation, and was possibly related to psychosocial stress.

Grace Shearrer

“It has been shown that sucrose improves mood and decreases perceived stress, and that this response is dependent on reward,” Shearrer said while presenting her findings. “So, it is possible that the high psychosocial stress is causing high cortisol, decreasing cognitive restraint. It is increasing the desire for a tasty, sugary, bubbly reward, which then is increasing visceral fat.”

Shearrer and colleagues analyzed data from 82 Hispanic and black children aged 13 to 18 years from the Los Angeles area participating in the Diabetes Risk Due to Ectopic Adiposity in Minority Youth (DREAM) study. Participants had a BMI in the 85th percentile or greater, but were otherwise healthy (47 boys; mean age, 15.6 years; 39 black; mean BMI, 33.7 kg/m²). Researchers took a detailed diet history from 24-hour recalls, including the amount of sugar-sweetened beverages consumed (8 oz was considered one sugary drink serving). Researchers used MRI to measure body composition, including subcutaneous fat, visceral fat and hepatic fat fraction.

Researchers collected salivary cortisol at 10 p.m., 5 a.m., 5:15 a.m. and 5:30 a.m., calculating cortisol area under the curve as well as cortisol awakening response.

Sugar-sweetened beverage intake was divided into four categories: low (less than 0.5 servings per day), medium (between 0.5 and 1 serving per day), high (between 1 and 2 servings per day) and very high (greater than 2 servings per day).

Within the cohort, 19 participants reported low sugar-sweetened beverage intake; 18 reported a medium intake; 20 reported a high intake; 31 reported a very high intake. Those who reported a very high intake exhibited 7% greater visceral fat vs. the low-intake group. Sex, race and BMI were also significantly related to visceral fat, Shearrer said.

In addition, cortisol awakening response was significantly associated with sugar-sweetened beverage intake, she said.

“This was the stunning finding, that the low vs. very high sugar-sweetened beverage intake was related to a whopping 43% higher cortisol awakening response,” Shearrer said.

“It appears that cortisol mediates the relationship between stress and visceral adipose tissue,” she said. “And from my work, I am providing the hypothesis that sugar-sweetened beverage consumption independently increases visceral adiposity and exacerbates cortisol response.”

Shearrer noted that she did not see an interaction between visceral adiposity and cortisol awakening response, but that it could be due to the cross-sectional nature of this data. – by Regina Schaffer

Reference:

Shearrer GE, et al. The relationship between sugar-sweetened beverage intake, cortisol response and fat partitioning. Presented at: ObesityWeek; Nov. 2-6, 2015; Los Angeles.

Disclosure: Shearrer reports no relevant financial disclosures.