A new study from McGill University has uncovered how stress in childhood could lead to serious health problems for some women later in life.
Researchers found that the way a woman’s brain responds to insulin may help explain why early life adversity raises the risk of metabolic issues like heart disease and diabetes.
The study shows that not all women who experience stress growing up end up with these problems. Instead, a special brain feature—called the brain’s insulin receptor network—may determine who is more vulnerable. This finding is important because it could help doctors identify at-risk women earlier and create ways to prevent disease before it starts.
The research was led by Dr. Patricia Pelufo Silveira, a professor of psychiatry at McGill and a scientist at the Douglas Research Center. Her team looked at health data from more than 32,000 adults.
They discovered that among women who faced challenges early in life—like family conflict, neglect, or being born with low birth weight—only those with a specific brain-insulin pattern had a higher chance of developing abdominal fat and signs of metabolic syndrome.
Metabolic syndrome is a group of health problems that include high blood sugar, high blood pressure, unhealthy cholesterol, and extra belly fat. Having these problems increases the risk of serious diseases like diabetes and heart conditions. About one in five Canadian adults has metabolic syndrome.
Interestingly, the same connection was not as strong in men. This suggests the brain’s insulin system may affect women and men differently.
First author Angela Marcela Jaramillo-Ospina, a postdoctoral fellow at McGill, said the key was figuring out who is biologically more sensitive to stress. “We’re not just talking about major trauma. Even common childhood stress, like being ignored emotionally or having fights in the family, can have long-term effects,” she explained.
The brain uses insulin not only to control blood sugar but also to influence how we think, behave, and respond to emotions. However, insulin is difficult to measure directly in the brain. So, the researchers created a new method using DNA to estimate how insulin works in the brain.
This method had already been tested in earlier studies. For example, children with early life stress and a similar insulin brain pattern were more likely to crave sweet and fatty foods—an early warning sign of future metabolic problems.
What’s not fully clear yet is exactly how this brain-insulin connection works or why some women are more sensitive to it than others. The team is planning more research to explore these questions. They also hope to study how certain treatments and lifestyle changes might improve brain-insulin responses.
In summary, this study helps explain why some women who experience childhood stress are more likely to develop serious health problems.
By identifying those most at risk early in life, doctors might be able to take steps to reduce these risks before they become life-threatening. The research brings hope for better prevention of heart disease and diabetes in women, especially those who faced tough times growing up.
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The study is published in Communications Biology.
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