Findings of a new study have showed that eating one large meal and fasting the rest of the day causes pre-diabetic condition of insulin resistance in liver. The study was conducted on mice, but researchers firmly believe that the results are highly likely to be applicable for human beings as well.

Going by what researchers have determined through their study results, liver stops responding to insulin as a direct result of following the practice. Continuous production of glucose increases the level of sugar in blood to an extent that is considered unsafe by health experts.

Human nutrition professor Martha Belury of Ohio State said it is wrong to believe that eating small meals over the course of the day could be an easy way to losing weight. For keeping a healthy weight, smaller, healthy meals should be taken.

“But you definitely don’t want to skip meals to save calories because it sets your body up for larger fluctuations in insulin and glucose and could be setting you up for more fat gain instead of fat loss”, added Belury.

The researchers found that bingeing-and-fasting behavior altered the metabolism of mice. The research team determined that insulin production initially pumped up and then dwindled alarmingly. Increased inflammation and higher activation of genes were also exhibited by these same mice. These factors trigger fat storage.

The study findings have been published in The Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry. When the liver is not stimulated by insulin, glucose output from the liver increases, a clear signal that liver is not responding to signals telling it to stop producing glucose.

Moreover, dieting didn’t help the mice lose weight to a considerable extent, found the study.