Like snacking on chips? Turns out doing so could give you a beer gut, according to researchers from The Netherlands.
Studying men who regularly ate fatty, sugary snacks for a total of 6 weeks, lead author Dr. Mireille Serlie says that this caused them to gain more abdominal fat–as well as have more fat deposits in their livers.
“American children consume up to 27% of calories from high-fat and high-sugar snacks,” says Serlie, a researcher from the Academic Medical Center Amsterdam in The Netherlands. “Our study examines if high meal frequency, with snacking, compared to large meal consumption contributes to increased intrahepatic and abdominal fat.”
In the study, which was published in the health journal Hepatology, Serlie recruited 36 lean men to participate in a study investigating how certain eating habits affected the body. To test this out, they were split into two groups and given one of two diets: A high calorie diet or a balanced diet. Before the study, researchers also measured their waist circumference and IHTG, or intrahepatic triglyceride content. In layman’s terms, this means the amount of fat found in the liver.
Then, for the next six weeks, researchers instructed them to follow these diets–and for those on the hypercaloric diet, they also ate snacks high in fat and sugar.
By the end of the study, the results were clear: Those who snacked frequently had larger waists and more fat in their livers.
“Our study provides the first evidence that eating more often, rather than consuming large meals, contributes to fatty liver independent of body weight gain,” says Serlie. “These findings suggest that by cutting down on snacking and encouraging three balanced meals each day over the long term may reduce the prevalence of NAFLD.”
While high calorie diets are the main reason why a person’s waist circumference increases, this study found that eating more frequently, as was the case for those on the hypercaloric plan, caused their waist circumference to increase even more. Those who ate a more modest diet and ate less frequent meals had leaner waists, however. In turn, snacking on sugary snacks caused their liver insulin sensitivity to increase–something that over time could lead to a higher risk of type 2 diabetes.
Clearly, snacking between meals isn’t a good idea, according to Serlie’s findings.
“A hypercaloric diet with high meal frequency increased IHTG and abdominal fat independent of caloric content and body weight gain, whereas increasing meal size did not,” says Serlie. “This study suggests that snacking, a common feature in the Western diet, independently contributes to hepatic steatosis and obesity.”
What You Should Do
For a slimmer waistline, simply eating fewer calories won’t do–instead, you’ll need to cut out snacking as well, especially if you’re eating fatty, sugary foods such as chips and candy. Instead, reach for something more nutritious instead, such as raw fruits or roasted vegetables.
Readers: What do you like to snack on while dieting?
Sources:
Study: Snacking on High-Fat, High-Sugar Foods Causes Abdominal Weight Gain, Fatty Liver – ScienceDaily.com
Snacks Containing High Amounts of Fat and Sugar May Cause Fatty Liver – Wiley.com
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