Stress can increase or decrease food intake and, consequently, body weight. However, in animal models of stress, rats often selectively increase palatable high-energy food intake and put on weight. There is a parallel in human behaviour – comfort eating, a widespread behaviour where people who feel anxious or stressed seem motivated to consume palatable food. The mechanisms underlying this stress-induced change in behaviour are unknown. Here we use a model of prenatal stress in rats to examine palatable food consumption and the reciprocal effect of palatable food rewards on the acute stress response. Prenatally stressed (PNS) rats were generated by exposing their mothers to repeated social stress during the latter part of pregnancy. These rats show an enhanced acute stress response as adults, reflected in increased plasma levels of ACTH and corticosterone (CORT; Brunton and Russell, 2010). We hypothesised that this enhanced acute stress response could be suppressed by consumption of palatable high-energy food prior to the acute stressor. To test this we gave a group of PNS rats twice-daily time-restricted access to a condensed milk reward for 14 days and monitored their feeding behaviour (n = 7). A group of unrewarded PNS rats (n = 7) and two groups of control rats (one rewarded, one unrewarded, both n = 8) acted as comparisons. Both PNS and control rats quickly learned to consume the reward in the allotted time. In control rats the latency to start eating had reduced from 237±66 sec (mean±sem) to 16±3 sec by day 4. However, the latency in PNS rats remained high and variable (233±154 sec on day one, 76±31 sec on day 14) indicating that PNS rats may have a reduced motivation to consume rewarding foods. Next we tested the effect of reward access on the acute stress response. At the end of the reward period all rats were subjected to a 30 min acute restraint and blood was taken before, during and after to measure plasma CORT by RIA. All rats showed an increase in CORT during the restraint stress that returned to baseline levels 4 h after the stress. Unrewarded PNS rats showed an enhanced stress response compared to unrewarded control rats. Rewarded PNS rats showed an increased stress response compared to unrewarded PNS rats, though this increase was superimposed on a higher baseline CORT secretion after reward consumption. Moreover, access to reward appeared to reduce the duration of the CORT response in control but not PNS rats. Hence, intake of palatable food can influence the HPA axis response to acute stress.