Biological mechanisms underlying widowhood's health consequences: Does diet play a role?

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dc.citation.articleNumber100058en_US
dc.citation.journalTitleComprehensive Psychoneuroendocrinologyen_US
dc.citation.volumeNumber7en_US
dc.contributor.authorFagundes, Christopher P.en_US
dc.contributor.authorWu, E. Lydiaen_US
dc.date.accessioned2022-09-29T15:06:22Zen_US
dc.date.available2022-09-29T15:06:22Zen_US
dc.date.issued2021en_US
dc.description.abstractThe loss of a spouse is a highly stressful event that puts older adults at increased risk for morbidity and mortality. The risk is highest in the first year to 18 months post-loss; nevertheless, widow(er)s, in general, are at heightened risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) related morbidity and mortality, and to a lesser extent, non-CVD related morbidity and mortality. The primary goal of this article is to argue for a perspective that considers diet and emotion-induced autonomic, neuroendocrine, and immune dysregulation, in unison, to understand the mechanisms underlying morbidity and mortality in early widowhood. Toward this end, we first summarize our previously published work, as well as work from other investigatory teams, showing that compared with those who were not bereaved, widow(er)s have higher levels of pro-inflammatory cytokine production and more dysregulated autonomic and neuroendocrine activity than non-widow(er)s, independent of health behaviors such as diet. We highlight that a major gap in our current understanding of the biobehavioral mechanisms that underlie the widowhood effect is the role of diet and hypothesize that the adverse health impact of grief and associated negative emotions and diet may be more than additive. Therefore, we propose that diet may be a pathway by which widow(er)s are at higher CVD risk requiring further investigation.en_US
dc.identifier.citationFagundes, Christopher P. and Wu, E. Lydia. "Biological mechanisms underlying widowhood's health consequences: Does diet play a role?." <i>Comprehensive Psychoneuroendocrinology,</i> 7, (2021) Elsevier: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpnec.2021.100058.en_US
dc.identifier.digital1-s2-0-S2666497621000321-mainen_US
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpnec.2021.100058en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1911/113422en_US
dc.language.isoengen_US
dc.publisherElsevieren_US
dc.rightsThis is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND licenseen_US
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/en_US
dc.titleBiological mechanisms underlying widowhood's health consequences: Does diet play a role?en_US
dc.typeJournal articleen_US
dc.type.dcmiTexten_US
dc.type.publicationpublisher versionen_US
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