Stress can be as bad as Junk food for gut health

Your digestive system is home to microorganisms that are essential to maintaining metabolic health. Consuming a high-fat diet can have a negative impact on this microbiota, and a BYU study of lab mice published in the journal Nature Scientific Reports suggests stress can have a similar effect.

A large group of rodents consumed a high fat diet for 8 weeks. After this period, the mice were exposed to mild stress for 18 days. Male mice showed more anxiety on a high-fat diet compared to female mice, and stress only impacted the gut microbiota of female mice. Whether humans respond in similar ways isn’t known.