{"id":2981,"date":"2026-01-28T02:38:22","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T07:38:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/haidut.me\/?p=2981"},"modified":"2026-01-28T02:38:22","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T07:38:22","slug":"high-fat-diet-ups-cortisol-serotonin-5-ht-hinders-5-ht-deactivation-causes-leaky-gut-and-systemic-inflammation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/haidut.me\/?p=2981","title":{"rendered":"High-fat diet ups cortisol\/serotonin (5-HT), hinders 5-HT deactivation, causes leaky gut and systemic inflammation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I am sure I will get a lot of hate-mail about this, but frankly this is not really news. What is novel about this study is its finding that high-fat diet not only increased cortisol and 5-HT production, but also strongly decreased the ability of the organism to deactivate 5-HT through the so-called serotonin transporter (<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Serotonin_transporter\">SERT<\/a>). Namely, the high-fat diet decreased the expression of SERT, this further exacerbating the hyper-serotonin state &#8211; i.e. a double-whammy, which results in leaky gut and systemic inflammation (affecting even the brain).<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1080\/1028415X.2025.2539320\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1080\/1028415X.2025.2539320<\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"B6m3IzeQlK\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.psypost.org\/a-high-fat-diet-severs-the-chemical-link-between-gut-and-brain\/\">A high-fat diet severs the chemical link between gut and brain<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"&#8220;A high-fat diet severs the chemical link between gut and brain&#8221; &#8212; PsyPost - Psychology News\" src=\"https:\/\/www.psypost.org\/a-high-fat-diet-severs-the-chemical-link-between-gut-and-brain\/embed\/#?secret=iqIx4p2Lus#?secret=B6m3IzeQlK\" data-secret=\"B6m3IzeQlK\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;&#8230;The investigation begins in the digestive tract, where specialized cells called <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>enterochromaffin cells manufacture the vast majority of the body\u2019s <span style=\"color: #ff0000; text-decoration: underline;\">serotonin<\/span><\/strong><\/span>. The researchers report that <span style=\"text-decoration: underline; color: #ff0000;\"><strong>a high-fat diet forces these cells to overproduce the chemical<\/strong><\/span>. This occurs because <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>the diet stimulates the enzymes responsible for initiating synthesis<\/strong><\/span>. Simultaneously, the cellular machinery designed to recycle serotonin malfunctions. Under normal circumstances, <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>a transporter protein acts like a vacuum to clear used serotonin from the system. The study indicates that fatty foods suppress the production of this transporter<\/strong><\/span>. This <span style=\"text-decoration: underline; color: #ff0000;\"><strong>double blow of increased production and decreased cleanup<\/strong><\/span><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong> causes <span style=\"color: #ff0000; text-decoration: underline;\">serotonin<\/span> to accumulate<\/strong><\/span> rapidly in the gut. This local <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>surplus creates a toxic environment in the digestive system<\/strong><\/span>. The review explains that excess <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000; text-decoration: underline;\">serotonin stimulates immune cells to release inflammatory signals. It also compromises the lining of the intestines<\/span>. This loss of integrity leads to permeability issues often described as a \u201cleaky gut<\/strong><\/span>,\u201d allowing harmful substances to enter the bloodstream.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;&#8230;Cortisol, the body\u2019s primary stress hormone, also plays a significant role in this cascade. The researchers note that <span style=\"text-decoration: underline; color: #ff0000;\"><strong>high-fat diets elevate circulating cortisol levels<\/strong><\/span>&#8230;.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I am sure I will get a lot of hate-mail about this, but frankly this is not&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[192,20,9,361,12,308,10,47],"class_list":["post-2981","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-science","tag-5-ht","tag-cortisol","tag-endotoxin","tag-high-fat","tag-inflammation","tag-low-carb","tag-lps","tag-serotonin","wpcat-2-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/haidut.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2981","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/haidut.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/haidut.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haidut.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haidut.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2981"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/haidut.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2981\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2982,"href":"https:\/\/haidut.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2981\/revisions\/2982"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/haidut.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haidut.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2981"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haidut.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}