Stress during Adolescence Alters Palatable Food Consumption in a Context-Dependent Manner

PLoS One. 2016 Feb 12;11(2):e0148261. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0148261. eCollection 2016.

Abstract

Food consumption and preferences may be shaped by exposure to stressful environments during sensitive periods in development, and even small changes in consumption can have important effects on long term health. Adolescence is increasingly recognized as a sensitive period, in which adverse experiences can alter development, but the specific programming effects that may occur during adolescence remain incompletely understood. The current study seeks to explore the effects of stress during late adolescence on consumption of a palatable, high-fat, high-sugar food in adulthood-under basal conditions, as well following acute stress. Male Long-Evans rats were exposed to a regimen of variable stress for seven days in late adolescence (PND 45-51). During the stress regimen, stressed animals gained significantly less weight than control animals, but weight in adulthood was unaffected by adolescent stress. Palatable food consumption differed between experimental groups, and the direction of effect depended on context; stressed rats ate significantly more palatable food than controls upon first exposure, but ate less following an acute stressor. Leptin levels and exploratory behaviors did not differ between stressed and non-stressed groups, suggesting that other factors regulate preference for a palatable food. Altered food consumption following adolescent stress suggests that rats remain sensitive to stress during late adolescence, and that adult feeding behavior may be affected by previous adverse experiences. Such programming effects highlight adolescence as a period of plasticity, with the potential to shape long term food consumption patterns and preferences.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Behavior, Animal / physiology*
  • Body Weight
  • Exploratory Behavior / physiology
  • Feeding Behavior / psychology*
  • Food Preferences / psychology*
  • Leptin / blood
  • Male
  • Memory, Long-Term / physiology*
  • Rats
  • Rats, Long-Evans
  • Stress, Psychological / physiopathology*
  • Time Factors

Substances

  • Leptin

Grants and funding

Funds were provided by Santa Clara University, including a Faculty Student Research Assistant Program award to AR and NZ and a Denardo Science Scholar Award to ER. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.