After eating a high-fat breakfast, people with higher increases in cortisol levels in the hours afterward tend to have lower blood vessel function 8 hours later, as measured by a specific test of blood flow response, even when accounting for other factors like age and sex.

After eating a high-fat breakfast, people with higher cortisol levels in the following 90 minutes tend to show larger increases in heart rate and skin conductance when recalling angry experiences, even when accounting for differences in age, sex, and body weight.

After eating different types of meals, healthy adult men show different patterns in cortisol levels over time: glucose causes a temporary rise followed by a drop below normal, while protein and fructose cause a steady decline over several hours, suggesting that the type of nutrient affects cortisol dynamics differently.

After eating a high-fat breakfast, women show a larger drop in cortisol levels in their saliva over 90 minutes than men, even when accounting for baseline cortisol, age, and body mass index.

In healthy adult men, levels of free fatty acids and cortisol in the blood rise together at certain times after eating a high-fat meal, and these changes are statistically linked.

After eating a meal with both fat and other nutrients, cortisol levels in healthy men drop to their lowest point at 4 hours and stay low for 6 hours. After eating a meal with only fat, cortisol drops faster—to its lowest point at 2 hours—and stays low for the full 6 hours. The timing and duration of cortisol suppression differ based on the type of fat-containing meal consumed.