{"id":39251,"date":"2015-04-16T07:15:17","date_gmt":"2015-04-16T11:15:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/?p=39251"},"modified":"2021-05-13T10:36:34","modified_gmt":"2021-05-13T14:36:34","slug":"high-fat-diet-news-041615","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/health\/high-fat-diet-news-041615\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Days of a High-Fat Diet: the Impact on Your Body"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"What
Photo: Pond5<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Can\u2019t resist that donut at breakfast, followed by French fries\u00a0for lunch? Not so fast. New research reveals that overindulging \u2014 even for just a few days \u2014 might have more of an impact on your body than you\u2019d expect. According to a recent study<\/a> from Virginia Polytechnic Institute, eating a high-fat diet for just five days can change the way your muscles metabolize nutrients, leading to a higher risk of heart disease or diabetes.<\/p>\n

RELATED:<\/strong> Saturated Fat: Is It Really That Bad for You?<\/a><\/p>\n

Previous studies in rodents have demonstrated that a high-fat diet can rapidly alter how muscles digest the macronutrients, such as protein, fat and carbohydrates, that provide your body with energy. Dr. Matt Hulver, an associate professor at Virginia Tech, designed a study to examine the effects of a high-fat diet in humans.<\/p>\n

What male college student wouldn\u2019t<\/em> volunteer to eat a high-fat diet in the name of science? Researchers observed 12 non-obese, college-aged male participants as they consumed fat-laden diets that matched their usual caloric intake. The men consumed 55 percent of their calories from fat, 30 percent from carbohydrates and 15 percent from protein. A whopping 25 percent of those calories came from saturated fats. (Recommendations<\/a> from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggest limiting overall<\/em> fat consumption to 20 to 35 percent of your daily calories.)<\/p>\n

RELATED:<\/strong> You’ll Never Guess How Many Processed Foods Americans Consume<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThis study wasn\u2019t just a blanket high-fat diet,\u201d says Dr. Hulver \u201cIt was purposefully designed to look at high saturated fat.\u201d He says that participants were fed heavily processed, pre-packaged convenience foods, some of which were microwave meals and snacks. Each day, researchers conducted muscle biopsies and recorded bodyweight and fat percentages<\/a> for the participants.<\/p>\n

Big Fat Surprise<\/strong><\/h3>\n

While these college guys didn\u2019t develop beer guts overnight (they, in fact, experienced no weight gain), their bodies did undergo some hidden changes. Researchers found that participants\u2019 high-fat diets disturbed their ability to oxidize glucose in their muscles after just five days. Why does this matter? Glucose<\/a>, which comes from carbohydrates, is responsible for providing your cells with energy and controlling blood sugar levels. When you eat a meal, your glucose levels rise and then fall as your body works to either convert these carbohydrates to energy or store them for later use, in the form of fat.<\/p>\n

RELATED:<\/strong> 6 Reasons Why You Can’t Out-Exercise a Bad Diet<\/a><\/p>\n

Hulver explains that, though more research is needed, consuming high-fat foods may increase the possibility that glucose is stored in the body as fat. Additionally, previous studies have demonstrated that a disruption in metabolism and high blood glucose levels<\/a> can be a risk factor for health issues like diabetes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t expect to see such a robust effect on how the muscle responds to a meal in such a short amount of time,\u201d says Dr. Hulver. He notes follow-up studies are already underway to determine exactly why a high-fat diet can so quickly influence how the body metabolizes glucose.<\/p>\n

RELATED:<\/strong> The 5 Biggest Myths About Metabolism<\/a><\/p>\n

So how dangerous are burgers, bacon and other fatty foods? Even if you\u2019re keeping your total calorie count under control, a fat-heavy\u00a0diet won\u2019t do your health many favors.<\/p>\n

\u201cIndependent of increased calories, if you have a chronic consumption of saturated fat, it changes the way your body responds to a meal,\u201d says Dr. Hulver. Watching your portion sizes is crucial for maintaining a high-functioning metabolism. In other words: If you have a soft spot for fatty meats and cheeses, it might be worth tracking macros<\/a> to ensure a balanced, healthful diet that\u2019s got less than 30 percent of calories<\/a> from fat. Wield that butter knife responsibly!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A new study shows that eating a high-fat diet for even a few days can change the way you metabolize nutrients. Should you put down the fries? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":39253,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,7],"tags":[41,51,251,71,341,343],"class_list":["post-39251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-diet-nutrition","category-health","tag-diets","tag-food-choices","tag-news","tag-nutrition","tag-tax1living-well","tag-tax2exercise"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39251"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39251\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}