Obesity is a major public health problem affecting 22% of adults in the United States. Despite public health efforts to combat obesity, it continues to increase in incidence along with obesity-related health costs. Obesity increases susceptibility for cardiovascular disease and non-insulin dependent diabetes, and has been associated with depression and anxiety. Chronic stress plays a role in the development of obesity, and has also been linked with depression and anxiety disorders. Moreover, obese individuals often have disruptions in the activity of the stress-responsive hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. Thus, the literature supports strong links between stress, stress-related illnesses and the dysregulation of body weight. To determine the nature of the interactions between chronic stress and obesity, this proposal will use a rat model of high fat diet-induced obesity (DIO) combined with chronic variable stress (CVS) exposure to address three principal hypotheses: (1) chronic stress potentiates obesity in rats consuming high fat diet; (2) chronic stress responses are potentiated by short term consumption of high fat diet; and (3) chronic stress responses are attenuated by obesity induced by long term consumption of high fat diet.
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