Here's a quick blog post about cortisol, that has every right to be stressed!
Cortisol is often blamed for an increase in stomach adipose tissue – fat around our stomachs. But, cortisol does NOT store fat. It has been wrongly accused. Cortisol actually releases fatty acids from our adipocytes (releases fat for energy from our fat stores) so we can use them as energy. Contrary to popular belief cortisol doesn’t store fat – it actually releases it!
Cortisol joins lactic acid and cholesterol as
being wrongly accused. Jokingly, on my Facebook feed my friend Tom Barbieri has
suggested they should form their own support group for the wrongly hated.
So what is cortisol, and why does it get wrongly
accused?
Cortisol is a stress hormone, released into the
blood by the adrenal glands. Cortisol can act on nearly every cell in the body.
Cortisol acts to raise our metabolic rate, acts as an anti-inflammatory,
controls salt and water balance, and influences blood pressure. It also releases
energy sources into our blood for use.
These energy sources are glucose and fatty acids.
Glucose is released from the liver. Muscle is also broken down into amino
acids, and these are converted again to glucose. Fatty acids (fat) become
released from adipocytes (fat cells). All of these energy substrates enter our
blood stream. This energy allows us to act in the face of a stressor.
With the stressor removed, cortisol falls, and
the energy release (from cortisol) stops. Yet, if we don’t use the energy
floating around our blood it still has to go somewhere. The muscle and liver
stores become replenished with the excess glucose. If these stores are full the
glucose is converted and stored in our adipocytes, our fat cells. Any excess
fatty acids become absorbed and stored once more in our adipocytes. This may
result in more ‘fat’ being stored than before, due to the increase in glucose
thanks to the breaking down of the muscles. The effect of this however is
nominal, and this is in the absence of cortisol, not because of it.
Cortisol is naturally released in the morning,
when we are in a fasted state, at times of stress, and during exercise. But cortisol
is most commonly discussed in respect to stress.
Stress affects us psychologically and
physiologically. Stress is a major causation of an increase in fat storage. But
that isn’t down to cortisol. Cortisol does a good job, ensuring we have energy
to respond to threats. It doesn’t deserve the bad press.
