It Only Takes 5 Days of Indulging in Fatty Foods to Mess with Your Muscle Function

No matter how much you try to eat healthy, things happen—you indulge in daily bacon cheeseburgers with a side of piña colada on vacation or end up ordering takeout a lot in one week.

We’ve all been there, which is why we’re filing this news under “terrifying”: A new study from Virginia Tech has discovered that eating a high-fat diet for just five days can change the way your body’s muscles processes nutrients. That can lead to weight gain, obesity, and diabetes, among other long-term health issues.



For the study, researchers fed 12 college-aged men high-fat diets that included sausage biscuits, mac and cheese, and foods loaded with butter—basically normal college food—for an overall diet that was made up of about 55 percent fat. (According to the Centers for Disease Control, a normal diet should have about 30 percent fat.)

Scientists measured the participants’ skeletal muscles at the beginning of the study after they did a fast and again after five days of indulging in fatty foods. They discovered that the overall caloric intake of the men stayed the same and they didn’t gain weight. But their muscles’ ability to oxidize glucose was disrupted.

Here’s why that’s a big deal: When we eat food, the level of glucose in our blood rises. Our muscles either use this glucose for energy or store it for later. Since muscles are so important for metabolizing glucose, if your normal metabolism is altered by, say, a cheeseburger binge, it can impact the rest of your body and your overall health.

Again, that’s after just five days. That’s pretty heavy stuff, especially since most of us tend to think we can indulge for a few days and make up for it later.

Of course, it’s worth pointing out that this was a small study and it’s uncertain how the short-term changes in the muscle discovered in this study could affect a person’s body in the long run. Researchers also didn’t track how quickly these changes can be reversed when someone starts to eat healthy again—or if they can be reversed at all.

So while this news shouldn’t stop you from indulging here and there, it’s worth remembering that even if you can’t see the effect on your body after eating bad foods, there’s still damage being done.

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Article Source: http://www.womenshealthmag.com/nutrition/five-days-of-fatty-foods