Study Diet affects the level of stress hormones in children

The diet affects the stress levels in children
A low-mineral diet can lead to increased levels of stress hormones in children. The reason for the increased production of the stress hormone cortisol is the dietary acidity. This is what scientists from Giessen and Bonn found out.

The scientists had previously observed that a regular increase in dietary acidity is associated not only with decreased bone stability, but also with higher blood pressure levels in children. The current study results show for the first time a hormonal mechanism, over which the quality of the nutrition affects our health in the long term.

Diet influences children's stress behavior. Image: goldencow_images - fotolia

The hormone study included 200 healthy children who had collected urine for 24 hours without dietary requirements. In the urine samples of 100 of these children, the scientists measured a low acid excretion via the kidneys (Net Acid Excretion, NAE) before starting the hormone measurements, and a high NAE in the other 100 urine samples. NAE is considered a reliable biomarker for assessing the net acid load of the whole organism.

In the case of children with high NAE, the researchers found - after the exclusion of all disturbing factors such as varying amounts of urine or protein intake - not only a higher secretion of the stress hormone cortisol. Excretion of specific cellular cortisol conversion products, such as 6-beta-hydroxycortisol or cortisone, was also significantly increased over the children of the low NAE group.

These findings suggest that cortisol may already have a less pronounced dietary-only acid load in target tissues such as the kidney or bone cells. They believe that the glucocorticoid hormones, cortisol and cortisone, play an important role in mediating long-term adverse nutritional effects on the skeletal system and other relevant health parameters. The original study can be found here (engl.).