New Hampshire Health News Digest

An inverse association of cardiovascular risk and frontal lobe glucose metabolism    Neurology. 2009 February 24; 72(8): 738–743. doi: 10.1212/01.wnl.0000343005.35498.e5. PMCID: PMC2677543 Copyright © 2009 by AAN Enterprises, Inc. An inverse association of cardiovascular risk and frontal lobe glucose metabolism B Kuczynski, PhD, W Jagust, MD, H C. Chui, MD, and B Reed, PhD From the Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (B.K., W.J.); the Department of Neurology (H.C.C.), University of Southern California, Los Angeles; and University of California, Davis, Alzheimer’s Center and Northern California Veterans Affairs Health Care System (B.R.).  Abstract Objective: To investigate associations between vascular risk profile and cerebral glucose metabolism. Methods: Subjects ranged from normal to having dementia (age >55 years) and underwent neuropsychological testing, MRI, and FDG PET scanning (n...

Let Them Eat Meat : Interview With an Ex-Vegan: Melissa McEwen Interview With an Ex-Vegan: Melissa McEwen Unless you’ve been living in a cave for the past few months, you probably read “New Age Caveman in the City,” the New York Times feature on aspiring Stone Agers in NYC. If so, you may remember Melissa McEwen as the lone cavewoman of the group, providing some refreshing gender balance to the paleo diet argument that rice cakes and rolled oats aren’t health foods — meat is. Melissa discusses the paleo diet and all its meaty nutrients on her site Hunt.Gather.Love, on Twitter and sometimes in the comments of the blog you’re reading right now. On top of that, she’s scheduled to speak at the Ancestral Health Symposium in Los Angeles next summer and she’s just been interviewed by Let Them Eat Meat. You might say that Melissa is already a star in the paleo world. But of course none of this would have been possible if Melissa had stuck with veganism. Melissa holds building together What’s a...

The Case For Going Gluten Free Medical Journal References | Evolvify In the U.S., public awareness of gluten free diets has reached widespread recognition, but largely in name only. For those suffering with celiac disease or acute wheat allergies, it’s critical. For those with known reactions to gluten, it’s of serious importance. For those who don’t really know what it’s about, but see it on packaging, it seems to evoke a similar response as being forced to “Press 1 for English”. Journalists tend to frame the gluten free approach as legit for celiac treatment, but ultimately a fad diet controlling minions of mindless Gwyneth Paltrow lovers (AP Article). The paleo diet community views it as more of a religion (that’s tongue-in-cheek hyperbole, people!). Before we continue, here are my biases: I experience repeatable, specific, and boring symptoms from gluten intake, but I do not have celiac disease or a “gluten allergy”. Evolutionary biology is a scientific fact and I believe the pa...

Dietary Sugar and Mental Illness: A Surprising Link | Psychology Today Dietary Sugar and Mental Illness: A Surprising Link Sugar and Mental Illness: A Surprising Link Published on July 23, 2009 Noted British psychiatric researcher Malcolm Peet has conducted a provocative cross-cultural analysis of the relationship between diet and mental illness. His primary finding may surprise you: a strong link between high sugar consumption and the risk of both depression and schizophrenia. In fact, there are two potential mechanisms through which refined sugar intake could exert a toxic effect on mental health. First, sugar actually suppresses activity of a key growth hormone in the brain called BDNF. This hormone promotes the health and maintenance of neurons in the brain, and it plays a vital role in memory function by triggering the growth of new connections between neurons. BDNF levels are critically low in both depression and schizophrenia, which explains why both syndromes often lead to shri...

Epilepsy’s Big, Fat Miracle - NYTimes.com Starvation had long been one approach to treating epilepsy. Deny the patient food for, say, a week and often their seizures went away. But there were obvious limits on how long starvation could be used as a treatment. In the 1920s, researchers at the Mayo Clinic, looking for a way to treat diabetics, figured out that it was not fasting per se that helped control seizures. Rather, they found that it was what the body did during an extended fast that helped control them. Deprived of food, the human body starts burning body fat as fuel, and it was that process of ketosis that somehow had the antiepileptic effect. Trick the body into thinking it was starving by taking away its primary fuel of carbohydrates and forcing it to subsist on an all-fat diet, and you could create that antiepileptic effect as long as necessary. The diet was quickly adopted and widely used through the 1930s. And then, almost as fast as it had appeared, the keto diet disappea...

Treatment zaps high blood pressure at the source By Julie Steenhuysen Julie Steenhuysen – Wed Nov 17, 12:18 pm ET CHICAGO (Reuters) – A device that destroys nerves leading to the kidney safely lowered blood pressure in people with treatment-resistant hypertension, potentially offering a new option for millions of people who struggle to keep their disease in check, researchers said on Wednesday. The device, made by privately held Ardian Inc of Mountain View, California, lowered the top blood pressure reading by an average of 32 points after six months, compared with no change in patients who took the best available medicines. "There are a lot of questions, but it is very exciting," said Dr. Suzanne Oparil of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, who reviewed the findings presented at the American Heart Association meeting in Chicago. The one-time treatment works by silencing nerves leading into and out of the kidney, which play a central role in the sympathetic nervous syst...

Statin RX may be overprescribed in healthy people without evidence of diseased arteries | e! Science News A statistical comparison of results showed that few if any heart attacks or strokes would have been prevented within five years had anyone taken the medication, unless there was already some calcium buildup in their blood vessels. In people with moderate calcium buildup, one heart attack would have been averted in every 94 people treated, and one stroke in every 54. For people with higher coronary calcium scores, the numbers of patients one needed to treat to prevent a heart attack or stroke were 24 and 19, respectively, which Blaha says were superior numbers to those in the JUPITER study or any prior statin trial. According to study co-investigator and cardiologist Roger Blumenthal, M.D., a professor and director of the Ciccarone Preventive Cardiology Center at Johns Hopkins, "statin therapy should not be approached like diet and exercise as a broadly based solution for preve...

Low fat diets could increase heart disease risk, say nutrition experts Low fat diets could increase heart disease risk, say nutrition experts By Caroline Scott-Thomas, 16-Nov-2010 Many Americans aim to eat low-fat foods but there is strong evidence that replacing fat with carbohydrates could be harmful to health, according to nutrition experts at the ADA conference in Boston last week. Recommendations to reduce saturated fat intake are largely based on the notion that high levels increase risk of cardiovascular disease, but unless saturated fat is replaced with other fats, many studies have suggested that fat reduction could increase risk of heart disease. During a symposium called “The Great Fat Debate: Is There Validity In the Age-Old Dietary Guidance?” at the American Dietetic Association’s (ADA) Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo, four leading experts presented evidence suggesting that low fat diets may be less healthy than those containing at least a moderate amount of fat. In...

Renal Function Following Long-Term Weight Loss in Individuals with Abdominal Obesity on a Very-Low-Carbohydrate Diet vs High-Carbohydrate Diet Renal Function Following Long-Term Weight Loss in Individuals with Abdominal Obesity on a Very-Low-Carbohydrate Diet vs High-Carbohydrate Diet Grant D. Brinkworth, PhDCorresponding Author Informationemail address, Jonathan D. Buckley, PhD, Manny Noakes, PhD, Peter M. Clifton, PhD Accepted 4 September 2009. Abstract A frequently cited concern of very-low-carbohydrate diets is the potential for increased risk of renal disease associated with a higher protein intake. However, to date, no well-controlled randomized studies have evaluated the long-term effects of very-low-carbohydrate diets on renal function. To study this issue, renal function was assessed in 68 men and women with abdominal obesity (age 51.5±7.7 years, body mass index [calculated as kg/m2] 33.6±4.0) without preexisting renal dysfunction who were randomized to consume either an energ...

PLoS ONE: Intense Sweetness Surpasses Cocaine Reward Conclusions Our findings clearly demonstrate that intense sweetness can surpass cocaine reward, even in drug-sensitized and -addicted individuals. We speculate that the addictive potential of intense sweetness results from an inborn hypersensitivity to sweet tastants. In most mammals, including rats and humans, sweet receptors evolved in ancestral environments poor in sugars and are thus not adapted to high concentrations of sweet tastants. The supranormal stimulation of these receptors by sugar-rich diets, such as those now widely available in modern societies, would generate a supranormal reward signal in the brain, with the potential to override self-control mechanisms and thus to lead to addiction. I'm sure many people would nod their heads in agreement with the assertion that sweet treats are addictive. What was once a rare treat for our paleo ancestors is now everywhere, and hard to say no to. There's some evidence that...

Mid-Life Cholesterol Levels Not Linked to Alzheimer’s Disease Mid-Life Cholesterol Levels Not Linked to Alzheimer’s Disease Released: 11/2/2010 2:40 PM EDT Embargo expired: 11/10/2010 4:00 PM EST Source: American Academy of Neurology (AAN) Newswise — Contrary to earlier research, a new, long-term study suggests that cholesterol level in mid-life may not be linked to later development of Alzheimer’s disease, according to a study published in the November 10, 2010, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. However, the results suggest that large decreases in cholesterol levels in old age could be a better predictor of developing the memory-robbing disease. “While some studies suggest that cholesterol is a risk factor for dementia, others have not replicated this finding, so the possible association has been under debate,” said study author Michelle M. Mielke, PhD, with Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore.

Paleo Ways | Free The Animal : "The Paleo Diet, Loren Cordain" At first, humans were not terribly good hunters. They started out as scavengers who trailed behind predators such as lions and ate the leftovers remaining on abandoned carcasses. The pickings were slim; ravenous lions don't leave much behind, except for bones. But with their handy tools (stone anvils and hammers), our early ancestors could crack the skulls and bones and still find something to eat -- brains and fatty marrow. Marrow fat was the main concentrated energy source that enabled the early human gut to shrink, while the scavenged brains contained a specific type of omega 3 fat called "docosahexaenoic acid" (DHA), which allowed the brain to expand. Docosahexaenoic acid is the building block of our brain tissue. Without a dietary source of DHA, the huge expansion of our brain capacity could never have happened. Without meat, marrow, and brains, our human ancestors never would have b...

The First Butchers: Scientific American A long time ago, by the shores of a lake in East Africa, a group of hungry foragers tucked into a primeval steak dinner. They carved the meat of cow- and goat-sized animals with sharp stone tools and smashed the bones to get at the rich marrow inside. The scene is remarkable mainly because it happened 3.4 million years ago, pushing back by 800,000 years the earliest known example of hominids using stone tools and eating meat. The foragers in question were likely members of the primitive genus Australopithecus, specifically A. afarensis, the species to which the celebrated Lucy fossil belongs. Scientists had long believed that the australopithecines, whose teeth and jaws were adapted for eating fruit, seeds and other plant foods, were primarily vegetarian. But the new finds—cut-marked animal bones recovered from a site called Dikika, just a few kilometers from the Lucy site in Ethiopia’s Afar region—suggest that “we could now be looking at an exte...

Children with hypertension more likely to have learning disabilities, ADHD Children with hypertension more likely to have learning disabilities, ADHD 10. November 2010 01:06 Children who have hypertension are much more likely to have learning disabilities than children with normal blood pressure, according to a new University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) study published this week in the journal, Pediatrics. In fact, when variables such as socio-economic levels are evened out, children with hypertension were four times more likely to have cognitive problems. "This study also found that children with hypertension are more likely to have ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder)," said Heather R. Adams, Ph.D., an assistant professor of Neurology and Pediatrics at URMC, and an author of the study. "Although retrospective, this work adds to the growing evidence of an association between hypertension and cognitive function. With 4 percent of children now estimated ...

Adult obesity linked to ADHD as child - UPI.com Researchers say there's a link between childhood ADHD and adult obesity, and the greater the number of ADHD symptoms a child has the more likely they may be to be overweight in adulthood. The study looked at symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity along with body mass index for 15,197 teens who were studied between 1995 and 2009. I saw a figure once that 70% of morbidly obese people have ADD. I really think there's a connection here. Scientists are beginning to learn that the brain itself can become insulin resistant. Perhaps that's why many people who do low carb or ketogenic diets to lose weight find themselves thinking more clearly, have more drive and a better mood.

The Heart Scan Blog: Why do morphine-blocking drugs make you lose weight? Naloxone (IV) and naltrexone (oral) are drugs that block the action of morphine. If you were an inner city heroine addict and got knifed during a drug deal, you'd be dragged into the local emergency room. You're high, irrational, and combative. The ER staff restrain you, inject you with naloxone and you are instantly not high. Or, if you overdosed on morphine and stopped breathing, an injection of naloxone would reverse the effect immediately, making you sit bolt upright and wondering what the heck was going on. So what do morphine-blocking drugs have to do with weight loss? An odd series of clinical studies conducted over the past 40 years has demonstrated that foods can have opiate-like properties. Opiate blockers, like naloxone, can thereby block appetite. One such study demonstrated 28% reduction in caloric intake after naloxone administration. But opiate blocking drugs don't block desire for all ...

Eating Patterns Vary Between Overweight Children And Normal Weight Children Overweight children reported more frequent intake of healthy foods such as fruit, vegetables, fish, brown bread and potatoes as well as low-energy cheese and yoghurt compared with normal weight children. This comes from a recent study from researchers at Telemark University College and the Norwegian Institute of Public Health. The study showed that: * Overweight children drank juice and artificially sweetened soft drinks more often, while the normal weight children drank carbonated drinks and ate unhealthy foods and processed foods such as burgers, sausages, biscuits, processed pizza and sweets. * The results suggest that both parents and children have increased awareness of food choices when children are overweight. * The study also showed that overweight children were less physically active and were more likely to have obese parents than normal weight children. "It is positive that parents an...

The science of sleep: hope for narcolepsy sufferers | Life and style | The Guardian Around 25,000 people in the UK have narcolepsy, a condition characterised by sudden and uncontrollable episodes of deep sleep, often at times of stress or even sexual arousal. There's no known cure, but in terms of medical advances, 2010 has been lively. As well as the reported alleged links to the swine flu vaccine in August – still unproven – Swiss researchers claimed in February to have identified the overproduction of an antibody, Trib2, in the immune systems of narcoleptics. Scientists at Geneva and Lausanne universities believe Trib2 is responsible for destroying hypocretin-secreting neurons in the brain. Hypocretin is a hormone that regulates sleep, so low levels interfere with non-REM (rapid-eye-movement) sleep and makes staying awake for long periods a struggle. Excitingly, the tests suggested this damage could potentially be stabilised with intravenous immunoglobulin, a laboratory-made ant...

Media-Newswire.com - Press Release Distribution - PR Agency Fish and other seafood are rich sources of the omega-3 fatty acids known as DHA and EPA, which have been found to provide protection from chronic diseases, such as type 2 diabetes, said LSU AgCenter nutritionist Beth Reames. (Media-Newswire.com) - Fish and other seafood are rich sources of the omega-3 fatty acids known as DHA and EPA, which have been found to provide protection from chronic diseases, such as type 2 diabetes, said LSU AgCenter nutritionist Beth Reames. In recent studies with animals, U.S. Department of Agriculture researchers have found that DHA provided protection against insulin resistance and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, and EPA offered partial protection against fatty liver disease. Insulin resistance is a condition in which the body isn’t able to efficiently use its own insulin to remove glucose from the bloodstream, Reames said. If left untreated, insulin resistance can lead to harmful buildup of glu...

SpringerLink - Abstract Abstract This paper presents the published and unpublished stable carbon and nitrogen isotope values for 36 European Upper Paleolithic humans from 20 sites. The isotope data were measured to determine the sources of dietary protein in Upper Paleolithic diets; the evidence indicates that animal, not plant, protein was the dominant protein source for all of the humans measured. Interestingly, the isotope evidence shows that aquatic (marine and freshwater) foods are important in the diets of a number of individuals throughout this period. Humans have eaten a lot of meat throughout their history.

Increased adipose tissue lipolysis after a 2-week high-fat diet in sedentary overweight/obese men Increased adipose tissue lipolysis after a 2-week high-fat diet in sedentary overweight/obese men Harold R. Howe IIIa, Kimberly Heidalb, Myung Dong Choic, Ray M. Krausc, Kristen Boylec, Robert C. HicknercdeCorresponding Author Informationemail address Received 21 January 2010; accepted 18 September 2010. published online 01 November 2010. Corrected Proof Abstract The purpose of this study was to determine if a high-fat diet would result in a higher lipolytic rate in subcutaneous adipose tissue than a lower-fat diet in sedentary nonlean men. Six participants (healthy males; 18-40 years old; body mass index, 25-37 kg/m2) underwent 2 weeks on a high-fat or well-balanced diet of similar energy content (approximately 6695 kJ) in randomized order with a 10-day washout period between diets. Subcutaneous abdominal adipose tissue lipolysis was determined over the course of a day using microdialysis...

Low-salt diet increases insulin resistance in healthy subjects Low-salt diet increases insulin resistance in healthy subjects Rajesh GargaCorresponding Author Informationemail address, Gordon H. Williamsa, Shelley Hurwitzab, Nancy J. Brownc, Paul N. Hopkinsd, Gail K. Adlera Received 23 July 2010; accepted 11 September 2010. published online 01 November 2010. Corrected Proof Abstract Low-salt (LS) diet activates the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone and sympathetic nervous systems, both of which can increase insulin resistance (IR). We investigated the hypothesis that LS diet is associated with an increase in IR in healthy subjects. Healthy individuals were studied after 7 days of LS diet (urine sodium 150 mmol/d) in a random order. Insulin resistance was measured after each diet and compared statistically, unadjusted and adjusted for important covariates. One hundred fifty-two healthy men and women, aged 39.1 ± 12.5 years (range, 18-65) and with body mass index of 25.3 ± 4.0 kg/m2, were in...

Myths and Information About Vegetarianism Along with the saturated fat and cholesterol scares of the past several decades has come the notion that vegetarianism is a healthier dietary option for people. It seems as if every health expert and government health agency is urging people to eat fewer animal products and consume more vegetables, grains, fruits and legumes. Along with these exhortations have come assertions and studies supposedly proving that vegetarianism is healthier for people and that meat consumption causes sickness and death. Several medical authorities, however, have questioned these data, but their objections have been largely ignored. As we shall see, many of the vegetarian claims cannot be substantiated and some are simply false and dangerous. There are benefits to vegetarian diets for certain health conditions, and some people function better on less fat and protein, but, as a practitioner who has dealt with several former vegans (total vegetarians), I know full we...

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition - Abstract of article: Metabolic and physiologic improvements from consuming a paleolithic, hunter-gatherer type diet Metabolic and physiologic improvements from consuming a paleolithic, hunter-gatherer type diet L A Frassetto1, M Schloetter1, M Mietus-Synder1, R C Morris Jr1 and A Sebastian1 1Department of Medicine, University of California San Francisco School of Medicine, San Francisco, CA, USA Correspondence: Dr LA Frassetto, San Francisco School of Medicine, Campus box 0126 505 Parnassus Avenue, room 1202M San Francisco, CA 94143, USA. E-mail: frassett@gcrc.ucsf.edu Received 25 July 2008; Revised 20 November 2008; Accepted 30 December 2008; Published online 11 February 2009. Top of page Abstract Background: The contemporary American diet figures centrally in the pathogenesis of numerous chronic diseases—‘diseases of civilization’. We investigated in humans whether a diet similar to that consumed by our preagricultural hunter-gatherer ancesto...

In the face of contradictory evidence: Report of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans Committee In the face of contradictory evidence: Report of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans Committee Adele H. Hite, M.A.T.a, Richard David Feinman, Ph.D.bCorresponding Author Informationemail address, Gabriel E. Guzman, Ph.D.c, Morton Satin, M.Sc.d, Pamela A. Schoenfeld, R.D.e, Richard J. Wood, Ph.D.f Abstract Concerns that were raised with the first dietary recommendations 30 y ago have yet to be adequately addressed. The initial Dietary Goals for Americans (1977) proposed increases in carbohydrate intake and decreases in fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, and salt consumption that are carried further in the 2010 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC) Report. Important aspects of these recommendations remain unproven, yet a dietary shift in this direction has already taken place even as overweight/obesity and diabetes have increased. Although appealing to an evidence-based methodology, the D...

Low Carb Diet Better For Cardiovascular Health Than Low Fat Diet Researchers from of the Center for Obesity Research and Education at Temple University, Philadelphia have revealed that after a two-year comparison, a low-carb diet fares about as well as a low-fat diet with regards to weight loss, but low-carb improves cardiovascular risk factors more. The study, published in the peer-reviewed medical journal Annals of Internal Medicine, explained that cardiovascular risk factors, such as blood pressure and lipid (cholesterol) levels responded better with the low-carb diet. Both diets produce identical weight loss when coupled with comprehensive behavior treatment Put simply - it appears that both diets are equally good for losing weight, but the low-carb diet protects you from potential coronary heart diseases more effectively. [...] Among the participants in the two diet groups, the researchers found: * Weight - no differences at any point during the study. About 7% loss of weight ...

Possible Link Between Personality And Exercise Levels There may be a fundamental link between aspects of an individual's personality and their capacity to exercise or generate energy, recent research suggests. Humans are not the only animals that choose to exercise and - as with people - individuals within the same species differ in their levels of activity, says Dr Peter Biro, a senior lecturer in the UNSW Evolution and Ecology Research Centre, in a review article in the journal Trends in Ecology and Evolution, with colleague Judy Stamps of the University of California, Davis. Dr Biro is an Australian Research Council Future Fellow. Likewise, scientists now recognise that many animals have 'personality', in that they display consistent differences in behaviours. Dr Biro believes it is significant that those behaviours often relate to the rates at which they acquire and expend energy through feeding or activity. "Some of us are couch potatoes while others are drawn to ...

When Dieting To Lose Weight, How Much You Sleep May Be As Important As How Much You Eat According to a new study being published in Annals of Internal Medicine, the flagship journal of the American College of Physicians, lack of sleep may hinder a dieter's ability to shed excess body fat. Ten overweight but otherwise healthy adults on a moderate calorie-restricted diet were randomly assigned to sleep either 5.5 hours or 8.5 hours each night in a closed clinical research environment. After two weeks, researchers measured loss of fat and lean body mass. Compared to participants who slept 5.5 hours a night, the dieters that slept for 8.5 hours lost 56 percent more body fat. The dieters in the sleep restricted group had lost less fat and more lean body mass. "These results highlight the importance of adequate sleep for maintenance of fat-free body mass when dieting to lose weight," said Plamen Penev, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor, Section of Endocrinology, at the University of...

Why Fish Oils Can Improve Diabetes Control Olefsky and colleagues looked at cellular receptors known to respond to fatty acids. They eventually narrowed their focus to a G-protein receptor called GPR120, one of a family of signaling molecules involved in numerous cellular functions. The GPR120 receptor is found only on pro-inflammatory macrophages in mature fat cells. When the receptor is turned off, the macrophage produces inflammatory effects. But exposed to omega-3 fatty acids, specifically docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), the GPR120 receptor is activated and generates a strong anti-inflammatory effect. Olefsky, a professor of medicine and associate dean of scientific affairs for the UC San Diego School of Medicine stated that, "It's just an incredibly potent effect… The omega-3 fatty acids switch on the receptor, killing the inflammatory response." The scientists conducted their research using cell cultures and mice, some of the latter genet...

Fasting Alters Pulsatile and Rhythmic Cortisol Release in Normal Man -- VANCE and THORNER 68 (6): 1013 -- Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism Fasting Alters Pulsatile and Rhythmic Cortisol Release in Normal Man* MARY LEE VANCE and MICHAEL O. THORNER Department of Internal Medicine, University of Virginia Medical Center Charlottesville, Virginia 22908 Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: Mary Lee Vance, M.D., Box 511, University of Virginia Medical Center, Charlottesville, Virginia 22908. The effect of a 5-day fast on integrated, pulsatile, and periodic cortisol release was studied in 10 normal men by measuring serum cortisol concentrations every 20 min for 24 h before (day 0) and during the fifth day of fasting (day 5). Serum concentration profiles were analyzed for integrated cortisol release (area under the curve), pulsatile hormone release by an objective, statistically based pulse detection algorithm (cluster analysis), and periodic hormone releas...

Effects of Fasting and Glucose Load on Free Cortisol Responses to Stress and Nicotine -- Kirschbaum et al. 82 (4): 1101 -- Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism Effects of Fasting and Glucose Load on Free Cortisol Responses to Stress and Nicotine1 Clemens Kirschbaum, Esperanza Gonzalez Bono, Nicolas Rohleder, Claudius Gessner, Karl Martin Pirke, Alicia Salvador and Dirk Helmut Hellhammer Center for Psychobiological and Psychosomatic Research University of Trier (C.K., N.R., C.G., K.M.P., D.H.H.), Trier, Germany; and Area of Psychobiology, Department of Psychology, University of Valencia (E.G.B., A.S.), Valencia, Spain Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: Clemens Kirschbaum, Center for Psychobiological and Psychosomatic Research, University of Trier, Universitaetsring 15, D-54286 Trier, Germany. E-mail: kirschba@uni-trier.de. The availability of energy appears to exert important regulatory functions in pituitary-adrenal stress responses. In two studies, ...