# Ethnic Influences on Stress, Energy Balance and Obesity in Adolescents

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-IRVINE · 2022 · $1,232,426

## Abstract

Obesity is one of the most serious public health problems in the US; its prevalence has tripled in the
last three decades and is associated with a range of short- and long-term medical and psychosocial problems.
Adolescence is a critical period for the development and persistence of obesity, and is associated with changes
in diet, physical activity and fitness, fat distribution and insulin sensitivity. There are racial and sex-specific
disparities in the prevalence and burden of obesity. African-American (AA) females have the highest rates of
obesity, and the clustered risk factors for coronary heart disease and metabolic syndrome are twice that of AA
males. The reasons for racial and sex-specific disparities in the prevalence and burden of obesity are not well
understood. AA experience higher stress levels than Non-Hispanic Whites (NHW) due to economic and social
inequalities, and the effect of stress on energy-dense diet and adiposity is more prominent in females. A better
understanding of the mechanisms that link stress to obesity, particularly during adolescence when high rates of
obesity, increased stressful experiences and stronger behavioral and physiological responses to stress emerge,
will contribute to new clinical guidelines for reducing obesity and associated medical conditions in AA females.
 The Physiological stress system affects obesity and mediates its adaptive functions via hypothalamic-
pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. Prolonged stress-induced glucocorticoid secretion promotes the consumption of
energy-dense diet (EI) and abdominal fat deposition both directly and indirectly through its effects on metabolic
hormones. Stress also reduces physical activity and alters energy balance. The proposed study will examine
the effects of stress and HPA axis on EI and physical activity-related energy expenditure in 100 AA and 100
NHW adolescent females. The effects on EI will be assessed in two contexts, the natural environment and
under controlled conditions incorporating a standardized psychosocial stressor. Stress will be assessed in the
natural environment as multiple domains (i.e., individual, family and social), and several indices of the HPA
axis will be obtained to represent diurnal variation, its status over 12-15 weeks and reactivity to stress. Obesity-
related parameters will be measured through anthropometry, fat distribution and cardio-metabolic biomarkers.
 Associations among stress, HPA activity/function, energy balance and obesity-related parameters will be
compared between and within AA and NHW samples. In combination they will improve our understanding of the
social factors and biobehavioral mechanisms of both racial and individual differences in obesity and facilitate the
development of effective treatments within and across racial groups according to the principles of individualized
medicine. To our knowledge, racial differences in objectively-measured diet intake and energy expenditure in
response to stress, or their unde...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10355414
- **Project number:** 5R01MD010757-06
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-IRVINE
- **Principal Investigator:** UMA RAO
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $1,232,426
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-02-24 → 2026-02-28

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10355414

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10355414, Ethnic Influences on Stress, Energy Balance and Obesity in Adolescents (5R01MD010757-06). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10355414. Licensed CC0.

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