As per the study's findings, the amount of visceral fat surrounding internal organs increased substantially while short-term overeating did not have a significant effect on the men's fat mass.
Considering that Type 2 Diabetes and obesity have increased disturbingly across the world in the past 30 years, it becomes important to understand how overeating causes changes in insulin processing and blood sugar control.
In a new study published in the American Journal of Physiology — Endocrinology and Metabolism, it was observed that “short-term overeating did not have a significant effect”.
Researchers from Australia’s Deakin University studied a small group of healthy, lean men with an average age of 22 years. The volunteers participated in a short-term trial consisting of five days “indicative of humans overeating during festivals and holidays” and a long-term model of chronic overeating lasting 28 days.
The “overfeeding” portion of the diet included high-calorie snacks such as chocolate, potato chips and meal replacement drinks to add approximately 1,000 more calories to the men’s normal food consumption each day. The research team measured the volunteers’ weight, fat mass, blood sugar and insulin levels before the trial began and again after five and 28 days.
As per the study’s findings, the amount of visceral fat surrounding internal organs increased substantially while short-term overeating did not have a significant effect on the men’s fat mass. In addition, fasting levels of blood sugar and C-peptide — an amino acid, the body releases in response to increased production of insulin — did not change, note the authors of the research study Dale J. Morrison, Greg M Kowalski, Clinton R Bruce, and Glenn D. Wadley.
According to them, “This finding was surprising because fasting levels of endogenous glucose — new glucose the body produces in addition to what it has already stored for future use — increased during the short-term trial”.
This indicated that long-term overindulgence in fatty foods, instead of more nutritionally balanced foods, may be an important factor that causes rapid changes in blood sugar control.
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