A new diet guru claims hypersecretion of cortisol is the reason why so many people are obese. He is marketing a dietary supplement that is supposedly able to block cortisol secretion and lead to weight loss. How would cortisol hypersecretion cause weight gain? Would blocking normal cortisol secretion lead to weight loss? Why or why not?

Video transcript

Hey, everyone. Let's take a look at this question together which of the following is the expected result of elevated cortisol in the blood. Is it answer choice. A hypotension. Answer choice B hyperglycemia. Answer choice C hypoinsulinemia or answer choice D all of the above. Let's work this problem out together to try to figure out which of the following answer choices would be the expected result of elevated cortisol levels in the blood. So in order to solve this question, we have to recall what we have learned about cortisol and how an elevation of cortisol levels in the blood would affect the body. And we can recall that common symptoms of elevated cortisol includes weight gain, especially in your face and abdomen, fatty deposits found between your shoulder blades, stretch marks on the abdomen, muscle weakness in the upper arms and thighs, as well as hyperglycemia, which we know is high blood sugar hypertension, which is high blood pressure, excessive hair growth and osteoporosis, which are weak bones. So looking at our answer choices, we can identify answer choice B hyperglycemia as the correct answer. Since hyperglycemia is a common symptom of elevated cortisol levels in the blood and all other answer choices are incorrect since they would not be the expected result of those elevated cortisol levels. I hope you found this video to be helpful. Thank you and goodbye.