In a recent study, researchers at the University of Georgia found that alternating between high fat and a more nutritionally balanced diet at regular intervals may help prevent or treat obesity and metabolic disorders.
They fed mice a high-fat diet for five days before switching the animals to regular feed for a period of one, two, or five days.
They repeated this cycle for several weeks and observed the effects.
The team found that switching to a regular diet for two or five days between periods of high fat intake not only helped control body weight, it also improved insulin sensitivity and prevented the accumulation of fat in the liver, two common side effects of obesity.
The team says maintaining a proper diet requires a lot of willpower, and one of the problems we see very often with modern weight loss programs is that people cannot sustain a restricted diet over long periods of time.
The temptation to eat becomes overwhelming, and many people end up regaining the weight they’ve lost, so we wanted to see if there may be an alternative to these diets.
In the study, mice were allowed to eat as much food as they wanted during every phase of the study.
The researchers also maintained two control groups, one of which received only a high-fat diet and another that received only regular feed.
While mice that received only a high-fat diet predictably gained weight, those fed an alternating diet closely mirrored the control group that received only regular feed in terms of their body weight, liver health, and glucose sensitivity.
The team found the mice that received an alternating diet had much lower levels of inflammation, which can contribute to the development of metabolic disorders like diabetes.
They also found that an alternating diet can reverse obesity in mice.
These results suggest that it may be possible to eat the foods you like and to do so with pleasure, as long as those habits are tempered with periods of rest.
While he cautions that their results in an animal model do not necessarily translate directly to humans, the researchers think that an alternating diet similar to the one used in their experiments could serve as the foundation for new dietary guidelines.
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The study was published in the journal Scientific Reports and conducted by Dexi Liu et al.
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