Khaberni - Many people feel stressed and emotional when they abstain from food, and English speakers refer to this condition as "hangry," which is a blend of hunger and anger. However, a recent German study revealed that the reason is not a drop in blood sugar as was believed, but the way we perceive hunger, as reported by Huffington Post.
A team from the University of Bonn and the University Hospital in Tübingen conducted a study published last December in the eBioMedicine journal, which included 90 adults over four weeks to study the relationship between hunger, glucose levels, and mood. The researchers found that low blood sugar does lead to feelings of weakness, confusion, and emotional upset, but it is not the primary factor for bad mood.
According to experts, when the body feels hungry, the stomach secretes the hormone ghrelin, which reaches the brain to stimulate neurons and signal the need for food. However, ghrelin has another role; it increases the production of cortisol and adrenaline, which raises the level of sugar available in the body and affects the mood.
Dr. Christine Kaduk, the lead author of the study stated that: "It is not the glucose levels per se that affect mood, but rather the intensity of our internal perception of the energy deficit." In other words, awareness of the state of hunger helps regulate mood and reduce emotional upset.
Professor Nils Kroemer, the lead author, notes that the body's awareness and internal response act as a mood regulator, and that people who are more aware of their body's signals are less prone to mood swings when hungry.
Experts believe that these findings may have an impact on understanding disorders such as depression and obesity, and suggest the possibility of developing future treatments based on training the body’s internal attention or stimulating the vagus nerve to improve body perception and emotional regulation.
