Those who are skipping meals to lose weight may want to stop.
A new study, which was conducted at Ohio State University, suggests that skipping meals could actually lead to abdominal weight gain, according to the website CTV News.
Abdominal weight gain is dangerous because it increases the risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease, according to the U.K. publication The Daily Mail.
“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,” stated human nutrition professor Martha Belury of Ohio State.
In the study, researchers reportedly fed one group of mice all of their food as a single meal, causing them to fast for the rest of the day. Another group of mice were reportedly allowed to freely nibble all day long.
The mice that were fed just one meal and led to fast for the rest of the day reportedly developed insulin resistance, which scientists believe to be a sign of pre-diabetes.
In the beginning of the study, the mice that were being fed one meal reportedly lost weight compared to the mice that had unlimited access to food. These mice reportedly received half of the calories consumed daily by the mice whose diet was unrestricted.
Food was reportedly gradually added so that all the mice were receiving the same amount of food each day towards the end of the study. The mice reportedly regained the weight they had initially lost, weighing nearly as much as the other group of mice.
The study, which was published in the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry, has brought attention to the unhealthy eating habits of people.
“With the mice, this is basically bingeing and then fasting,” explained Belury.
“People don’t necessarily do that over a 24-hour period, but some people do eat just one large meal a day.”