Analysis of allostatic load and eating behaviors among healthy young women with different body types

Abstract

Allostatic load refers to the cumulative effects of chronic stress on the body. The aim of this study was to analyze the allostatic load index and eating behaviors. The participants included 137 healthy women, who were divided into the lean group, the standard group, and the standard body mass index (BMI) obesity group. Their mean age was 18.7 (SD1.0). Allostatic load index, as a cumulative risk marker, was defined as the mean standard scores of the 10 variables such as systolic blood pressure and triglyceride. The mean of allostatic load index scores were follows: −0.12 in the lean group, −0.04 in the standard group, and 0.19 in the standard BMI obesity group (F(2, 132) =4.45, p<0.05). There was a significant difference in the eating behavior scores of the lean and standard BMI obesity groups (F(2, 132) =3.59, p<0.05). These findings suggest that women in the standard BMI obesity group experience more stress during their daily lives and have more unhealthy eating behaviors than women in the other 2 groups. This study was supported in part by a grant‐in‐aid for Scientific Research (C) to Masami Horiguchi from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (grant no.21592855).