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With the diabetes rates skyrocketing all the time, researchers are trying to determine what impact modern, high-calorie diets have on the human body and how fast it can lead to a pre-diabetes condition, given the fact that so many people have the tendency to overeat nowadays.
It is no breaking news that a diet that is too rich in calories will soon lead to the person being overweight or obese, which is the highest risk factor in developing type 2 diabetes.
A group of researchers from Temple University in Philadelphia, led by Dr. Guenther Boden, involved six healthy participants in their study, aiming to check how fast their health became deteriorated if they started consuming high-calorie food.
The participants were all either overweight or of normal weight. They were asked to consume about 6,000 calories every day for a week. This number is very high, given the fact that a healthy person should not eat more than 2,200 calories on a daily basis. Throughout the trial, the men were asked to do no physical activity.
The researchers monitored the patients all the time while the experiment was carried on. After only two days, they noticed that all of them started showing insulin resistance, which is a sign that the person might develop diabetes. Moreover, after only a week, the participants had gained as much as eight pounds. This might not be too surprising, given that, according to some experts, a pound of fat requires ingesting 3,500 extra calories.
The researchers managed to identify 38 proteins that are usually produced in reaction to oxidative stress. This stress, that usually stems from overeating, leads to the production of excessive amounts of oxygen byproducts, which are incredibly toxic to cells.
Thus, even if the sample size of participants involved in the study is quite small, it can be stated that it doesn’t take long for a person to develop a pre-diabetes condition if he or she starts consuming much more food than the needed amount. There are millions of people who do that every day, without exercising at all, and put their health in great danger.
“The results of this study are valuable considering so many Americans tend to take in excessive amounts of calories on a daily basis,” and that the paper “certainly does reinforce recommendations for folks to be mindful about their intake of calories and to exercise more,” said Dana Angelo White, who is a dietitian and professor of sports medicine working at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Conn.
The results of the study were published in the journal Science Translational Medicine, on September 9.
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