Skipping meals may seem like an effective way to cut down on calories, but new research suggests it could actually lead to more belly fat.
A recent study found skipping meals sets off a series of metabolic "miscues" that can trigger abdominal weight gain, The Ohio State University reported.
In the study, mice that ate all of their daily calories in a single meal and fasted for the rest of the day proved to develop insulin resistance in their livers, which is a precursor to diabetes. When the liver stops responding to insulin signals to stop glucose production, the resulting excess sugar is stored as fat.
The restricted diet mice were observed to lose weight initially and gradually gain it back as calories were added into their diet, but the fat around their middles weighed more than control mice with an unrestricted diet. Excess belly fat has been linked to an increased risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
"This does support the notion that small meals throughout the day can be helpful for weight loss, though that may not be practical for many people," said Martha Belury, professor of human nutrition at The Ohio State University and senior author of the study. "But you definitely don't want to skip meals to save calories because it sets your body up for larger fluctuations in insulin and glucose and could be setting you up for more fat gain instead of fat loss."
To check for insulin resistance in the mice, the researchers used an advanced technique to assess glucose production. They determined glucose was present in the mice that gorged and fasted, suggesting the liver was not receiving the insulin message. Insulin resistance also ups the risk of gaining abdominal fat called white adipose tissue, which works to store energy.
"Even though the gorging and fasting mice had about the same body weights as control mice, their adipose depots were heavier. If you're pumping out more sugar into the blood, adipose is happy to pick up glucose and store it. That makes for a happy fat cell - but it's not the one you want to have. We want to shrink these cells to reduce fat tissue," Belury said.
The findings were published in a recent edition of the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry.
