Oxytocin reduces post-stress sweet snack intake in women without attenuating salivary cortisol

What Was Tested

Researchers studied Oxytocin in this randomized controlled trial publication.

Intranasal oxytocin produces anorectic effects on snack intake in men when tested in the absence of deprivation-induced hunger, but its effects on food intake in women without eating disorders have not been reported.

Who Took Part

According to the abstract, 38 women were involved.

By PubMed's age tags, the people studied were young adults, adults and middle-aged adults, women only.

How the Study Was Run

In design terms this was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled and crossover study.

Because people in this Oxytocin study were split into groups at random, differences between the groups are less likely to reflect who happened to join each one.

As a double-blind Oxytocin study, the assignments were hidden from both participants and investigators until the end.

Some women received a placebo instead of Oxytocin, giving a reference point.

In the crossover set-up each of the women took both Oxytocin and the comparison in turn, acting as their own control.

Snack intake was assessed 15-20 min after lunch, via a sham taste test.

Salivary cortisol was measured throughout the test period every 15 min.

What Was Measured

Intranasal oxytocin produces anorectic effects on snack intake in men when tested in the absence of deprivation-induced hunger, but its effects on food intake in women without eating disorders have not been reported.

PubMed files the paper under topics including Eating, Healthy Volunteers, Hydrocortisone, Oxytocin, Saliva, Self Report and Snacks.

The authors tagged it with the keywords Anorectic, Cortisol, Hedonic eating and Reward.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of Oxytocin in 38 women.

With fewer than 40 people, it is a small study, so it is better read as an early signal for further research than as a settled answer.

The publication is from 2019 (Physiology & behavior), a journal based in United States.

More context: the Oxytocin compound page, all human trials.