It’s better that you avoid junk food in the first place rather than resorting to workouts later to shed the flab, for a new study says that a person can add fat to their waistline within hours of eating.
And, eating again shortly afterwards and the fat stores around the middle will grow and grow, according to the study by Oxford University, which contradicts the widely held belief that weight gain is gradual.
Those who like to tuck in at dinner should take particular note, say the researchers, because fat from meals eaten later in the day is particularly likely to be stored around the middle, the Daily Mail reported. It was earlier believed that had been thought that fat from food was transported from the gut into the blood, where it could be used by the muscles as needed. Any excess was thought to be slowly stored in the fatty tissue around the waist, hips and legs.
However, the Oxford University research suggests a more complex — and rapid — process.
In the experiments, volunteers ate fat which could be traced around the body. This was found to take around an hour to be broken down in the gut and then enter the bloodstream as tiny droplets.
The droplets are then whisked around the body — but not for long — before they are “caught” and stored. “The process is very fast. The cells in the adipose tissue around the waist catch the fat droplets as the blood carries them and incorporates them into the cells for storage,” Prof Fredrik Karpe, who led the study, said. Only a small amount of the fat found in breakfast takes this route. But, by dinner, the amount rises to half. This is due to hormonal changes that occur later in the day which make it easier for the stores in the waistline to trap passing fat droplets.
In a dinner with 30 gms of fat, two to three teaspoons of lard will quickly gather around the waist.
The good news is the storage system is temporary, with the fat deposited quickly drawn on, or mobilised, to feed oen’s muscles.