If it’s on the internet it must be true

There is so much controversy about what’s healthy and what isn’t.  And so much assorted and contrasting “information” about how the human body works.

My current bugaboo involves cortisol. Its actions are pretty much the opposite of insulin’s, and insulin makes you fat, so shouldn’t cortisol make you lean?

Cortisol is a hormone secreted by the adrenal glands in response to “stress”.  The best definition of stress I can think of is “threat” or just perceived threat. Meaning your body thinks it’s in danger.  I always use the example of being chased by a tiger, which is very obviously a life-or-death situation.  Of course the problem with the way most of our lives are today is that many, many little items –that are neither life-threatening, nor can be resolved in a matter of minutes–are stressful, and therefore, threatening, to us.  For example, if you are stuck in traffic and are doomed to be late for work, a meeting, or to pick your child up from school, it can make you very stressed.  Such a situation will be resolved one way or another in a short period of time.  A letter from the IRS, or learning that your cell phone has been shut off, or losing your keys on the subway–these items are stressful but may also leave you “stressed” for a much longer period of time, wreaking havoc on not only your peace of mind, but on other aspects of your well-being, because none of us is designed to deal with elevated levels of cortisol for extended periods of time.

So: does this mean that cortisol makes us fat? Yes and no.  Ordinary cortisol fluctuations are just part of being alive. Cortisol has a short half life, meaning it clears entirely from the bloodstream in 66-120 minutes.  Those short periods of elevated cortisol have both fat-mobilizing and fat-storing effects, and they are short  lived in any case.  But repeated exposure to “stress” may mean that cortisol remains elevated for many hours of the day, and there are consequences to  chronically elevated cortisol levels.

Here is a partial list of what cortisol can do,  particularly when there is too much for too long(this is from the current Williams Textbook of Endocrinology):

1) Increase insulin resistance;

2) Increase blood glucose levels;

3) Increase fatty acid production;

4) Increase visceral obesity;

5) Decrease bone formation and bone mass, therefore promoting osteoporosis.

The key item here, in terms of weight gain, is the increase in insulin resistance.  Insulin resistance makes your body produce more insulin, assuming your pancreas is up to the task, and insulin does make you fat. So the answer is yes, cortisol can, albeit indirectly, make you fat. Everything I have heard or read up to now makes me believe that insulin resistance is the chronically overweight/obese individual’s biggest hurdle.  Therefore, reducing stress–whatever that means–is a factor to address if you’re serious about slimming down.

Next:  so what can you do to reduce your cortisol levels?