Scientists from Ohio State University found that regularly snacking on sugary and fatty foods can quietly add 400 to 500 calories to a person’s daily diet. This type of covert overeating can lead to excess weight and diabetes. Research results published PLOS in Global Public Health.
23,708 American adults participated in the study. Scientists analyzed their eating habits and determined from which sources calories came into the subjects’ bodies. The participants were further divided into four groups: healthy participants, volunteers with prediabetes and diabetes (in the third group of diabetic patients, fasting blood sugar levels were more than 7 mmol/l, and in the fourth group they were between 6.5 and 6.9 mmol/l).
On average, participants consumed snacks twice a day. But overall, adults with prediabetes and diabetes consume fewer snacks than healthy volunteers. Additionally, participants without diabetes were getting 14.6% of their daily calories from alcoholic beverages. This rate was almost twice as high in people with other diabetic conditions.
It was also found that regularly snacking on fatty and sweet foods with almost no nutritional value contributes 19.5-22.4% to the daily calorie intake of an American adult without diabetes. This means overindulging in snacks, which people typically don’t count as meals, can quietly add 400 to 500 extra calories to your diet. Such hidden overeating can lead to excess weight and become a provocateur of diabetes.
It has been noted that people who are already diagnosed with diabetes or have prediabetes are less likely to snack on fatty and sugary foods. Researchers attribute this observation to patients being adequately informed about the dangers of an unbalanced diet and following their doctors’ recommendations.
previous doctors refuted Myth about the dangers of insulin release after eating.