The acute ghrelin response to a psychological stress challenge does not predict the post-stress urge to eat

Summary Ghrelin is a growth hormone and cortisol secretagogue that plays an important role in appetite and weight regulation. It is not known whether ghrelin is involved in the eating response to stress in humans. In the present study we examined the effects of psychologically induced stress on plasma ghrelin levels in patients with binge-eating disorder (BED) ( n =8) and in healthy subjects of normal ( n =8) or increased ( n =8) body mass index (BMI). Volunteers were subjected to the standardized trier social stress test (TSST). Heart rate, blood pressure, serum cortisol, serum prolactin, and plasma ghrelin levels were measured throughout the test. In addition, subjects were requested to rate their feelings of anxiety, tension, urge to eat uncontrollably and desire to eat sweets by means of a visual analog scale both before and after the TSST. There was a significant rise in the systolic blood pressure ( p =0.003) in the study population, reflecting induction of physiological changes by the psychological challenge. Basal ghrelin levels were higher in healthy normal weight (385.4±79 pg/ml) than in obese (170.4±15.7 pg/ml) subjects ( p