A new study shows that high sugar and high fat foods are the cause of abdominal obesity and hepatic steatosis or fatty liver. It showed that eating foods with high fat and sugar may cause one to put on belly fat.
As per Dr. Mireille Serlie of the Academic Medical Centre Amsterdam and her team, a high calorie diet with numerous meals a day could lead to an increase in intrahepatic triglyceride content and fat in the waist area. The researchers associated obesity with the accumulation of fat in the abdomen and liver. Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease or NAFLD is currently one of the most common liver diseases.
The Dutch team fed lean and healthy men with either a high calorie diet or a normal diet. For the research, 36 healthy subjects were randomized to a high calorie or a balanced diet for six weeks. The team measured the abdominal fat, insulin sensitivity and IHTG with the use of MRI (magnetic resonance imaging).
The men who were given a high calorie diet and ate three main meals with extra calories to increase meal frequency and size, increased BMI (body mass index). While Men who consumed extra calories, ate sugar or sugar and fat either with their meals or snacks in between meals had a high increase of fat in the liver. Those who noshed also increased their belly fat.
People who have increasing belly fat should be careful with their sugar and fat intake. Belly fat and insulin sensitivity in the liver decreased in those who had frequent meals and high fat and/or sugar intake.
"Our study provides the first evidence that eating more often, rather than consuming large meals, contributes to fatty liver independent of body weight gain...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," Dr. Serlie said.
The World Health Organization (WHO) reported that over 200 million men and nearly 300 million women had obesity in 2008. As per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States, 36 percent of American adults and 17 percent American children have obesity. Obesity is a worldwide health concern.
