If you are skipping meals in the hopes of cutting down some belly fat, think again; you could be achieving the exact opposite, according to a recently conducted study using animal models.
The study, conducted by a team of researchers from Ohio State University and recently published in the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry, used mice as animal models to compare the body responses to two feeding patterns following a calorie-restricted diet.
The mice, having come from this calorie-restricted diet, were placed in one of two feeding options; one batch was fed only once a day, while the other batch had access to food all day.
At the end of the experiment it was observed that the mice that were fed only once a day had gained nearly as much fat as those that had unlimited access to food, and evaluation of the ‘fasting’ mice found two intriguing facts.
One, that the fasting mice exhibited gorging behavior, which if replicated in humans suggests that those who skip a meal will most likely eat more than they would normally consume the next time they take a meal.
Two, the fasting mice developed some insulin resistance. When insulin is released, the liver is essentially instructed to stop producing glucose, and whatever glucose is in the blood is to be sequestered. However, when resistance develops, glucose production proceeds without a proper means to check it, This results in an excessive presence of glucose, which is in turn stored as fat hence the increase in abdominal fat.
So what would be the best way to go about your meals? Small meals, spread over the day.
Skipping meals is plain unhealthy.
Africa Global News Publication
