Stress and immunity: New perspectives in obesity

It has long been suspected that there is a relation between stress hormones (cortisol and cortisone) and obesity. In this thesis, we measured cortisol and cortisone in scalp hair, which gives an overview of the past weeks-months.
We have found convincing evidence that there is a relation between obesity and increasing levels of cortisol and cortisone in scalp hair. Also, individuals with higher levels of cortisol and cortisone in scalp hair are at risk for future increases in weight and waist circumference, respectively. Moreover, they are at risk of developing cardiovascular diseases in the next five years.
We demonstrated a correlation between higher levels of cortisol and cortisone in scalp hair and higher levels of immune factors (IL-6) as well as more leukocytes (in particular monocytes). Next, we demonstrated that in obesity there is increased activation of the immune system (sCD163 and sIL-2R), that can be partly reversed by lifestyle intervention.