Summary: Strong emotional support within marriage may help protect against obesity by altering how the brain and gut communicate. People in highly supportive marriages showed better control of food cravings, healthier gut metabolism, and higher levels of oxytocin, a hormone linked to bonding and appetite regulation.
These biological changes were not seen in unmarried individuals or in marriages with low emotional support. The findings suggest that relationship quality may be a powerful, overlooked factor in long-term weight regulation.
Key Facts
- Brain Control: Supportive marriages were linked to stronger activity in brain regions that regulate cravings.
- Gut Metabolism: Emotional support was associated with healthier tryptophan-related gut metabolites tied to serotonin and energy balance.
- Oxytocin Link: Higher oxytocin levels appeared to coordinate both appetite control and gut metabolic health.
Source: UCLA
Strong social relationships, particularly high-quality marriages, may help protect against obesity by influencing a complex communication system between the brain and gut, according to new research by UCLA Health.
The study, published in the journal Gut Microbes, is the first to demonstrate how social bonds influence weight and eating behaviors through an integrated pathway involving brain function, metabolism and the hormone oxytocin, sometimes referred to as “the love hormone.”
The findings suggest that the quality of relationships may be just as important to physical health as traditional risk factors like exercise and diet
“We’ve known for years that social relationships impact health, with supportive connections increasing survival rates by up to 50%,” said lead author Dr. Arpana Church, a neuroscientist at UCLA Health.
“The biological mechanisms explaining this connection have remained elusive. Our study reveals a novel pathway showing how marriage and emotional support literally get ‘under the skin’ to influence obesity risk.”
Nearly 100 participants from the Los Angeles area participated in the study. The participants provided data including marital status, current Body Mass Index (BMI), race, age, sex, diet style and quality and socioeconomic status.
Researchers also conducted various tests on the participants including brain imaging while food images were displayed; fecal samples to test for metabolites; blood plasma tests to measure oxytocin levels; and clinical and behavioral evaluations including assessment of their perceived emotional support system.
The Church lab found that married individuals with higher perceived emotional support had a lower body mass index and exhibited fewer food addiction behaviors compared to married participants with low emotional support. Brain imaging showed these individuals had enhanced activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, which manages cravings and appetite, when viewing food images.
Conversely, unmarried people with and without strong emotional support did not show the same brain patterns, potentially due to more diverse and less consistent social support networks.
Social support also had significant changes in gut metabolism. Those with stronger support showed beneficial changes in tryptophan metabolites, which are compounds produced by gut bacteria that regulate inflammation, immune function, energy balance and brain health. These metabolites are also involved in producing serotonin and other compounds that can influence mood, social behavior and metabolism.
Central to these findings is the hormone oxytocin. Married participants with strong emotional support showed higher levels of oxytocin levels compared to unmarried individuals. Church said their findings suggest oxytocin may act as a biological messenger that simultaneously enhances brain regions involved in self-control while promoting healthier gut metabolic profiles.
“Think of oxytocin as a conductor orchestrating a symphony between the brain and gut,” said Church. “It strengthens the brain’s ability to resist food cravings while promoting beneficial metabolic processes in the gut, both of which help maintain healthy weight.”
The research also challenges oversimplified views about marriage and weight. The benefits relating to self-control, metabolism and oxytocin levels were more pronounced among married participants who endorsed greater emotional support.
“Marriage may serve as a training ground for self-control,” said Church. “Maintaining a long-term partnership requires consistently overriding destructive impulses and aligning with long-term goals, which may strengthen the same brain circuits involved in managing eating behavior.”
Church said the study opens potential avenues for obesity prevention and treatment by incorporating the need to build strong social relationships alongside a healthy diet and exercise.
“These results underscore the critical importance of building long-lasting, positive, and stable relationships to promote overall health,” Church said. “Social connections aren’t just emotionally fulfilling; they’re biologically embedded in our health.”
The authors noted several limitations. The study captured data at a single point in time and cannot definitively establish cause-and-effect relationships, Church said.
Additionally, most participants were overweight or obese, and married participants tended to be older. Future research with larger, more diverse samples and longitudinal designs is needed to confirm these findings and better understand the mechanisms involved.
Key Questions Answered:
A: High-quality emotional support appears to influence brain control of cravings, gut metabolism, and hormone signaling that regulate weight.
A: The pathway includes the prefrontal cortex, gut microbes, oxytocin, and tryptophan-related metabolites tied to appetite and energy balance.
A: Potentially, by combining social support strategies with traditional diet and exercise approaches.
Editorial Notes:
- This article was edited by a Neuroscience News editor.
- Journal paper reviewed in full.
- Additional context added by our staff.
About this neuroscience and microbiome research news
Author: Will Houston
Source: UCLA
Contact: Will Houston – UCLA
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News
Original Research: Open access.
“Social bonds and health: exploring the impact of social relations on oxytocin and brain–gut communication in shaping obesity” by Arpana Church, et al. Gut Microbiomes
Abstract
Social bonds and health: exploring the impact of social relations on oxytocin and brain–gut communication in shaping obesity
Social relationships play a crucial role in shaping health.
To better understand the underlying mechanisms, we explored the independent and interactive effects of perceived emotional support (PES) and marital status on body mass index (BMI), eating behaviors, brain reactivity to food images, plasma oxytocin, and alterations in the brain–gut microbiome (BGM) system.
Brain responses to food stimuli, fecal metabolites, and plasma oxytocin levels were measured in 94 participants.
Structural equation modeling was used to determine the integrated pathways linking social factors to obesity-related outcomes.
Marital status and PES interact and independently influence lower BMI, healthier eating behaviors, increased oxytocin levels, food-cue reactivity in frontal brain regions involved in craving inhibition and executive control, and tryptophan-pathway metabolites related to inflammation, immune regulation, and energy homeostasis.
These findings suggest that supportive human relationships, particularly high-quality marital bonds, may regulate obesity risk through oxytocin-mediated alterations in brain and gut pathways.
