Science says we can eat all the pizza we want guilt-free

Here’s a fun fact to help you justify spending your Friday night drinking wine and inhaling six slices of ham and pineapple pizza: a new study has found that our bodies cope “remarkably well” when faced with a sudden increase in calories.

Researchers at the University of Bath recruited healthy adults between the ages of 22 and 37. They asked them to eat Italian food until they were “comfortably full” on one occasion, and couldn’t “manage another bite” on another.

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Despite consuming almost twice as much pizza during the second experiment, the nutrients in the participants’ bloodstream remained within the normal range. Their insulin levels were no higher than after a regular meal and their blood lipids were only slightly increased, even though they’d consumed in excess of 3,000 calories on average. 

This suggests that over-indulging (on occasion) is totally okay – at least, as far as metabolic control is concerned. 

"We all know the long-term risks of overindulgence with food when it comes to obesity, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease but we know much less about some of the immediate effects ‘all you can eat’ places on the body,” the study’s author Aaron Hengist explained in a statement. 

“Our findings show that the body actually copes remarkably well when faced with a massive and sudden calorie excess.”

There is, however, one thing worth keeping in mind: overeating adds more stored energy to the body in the form of fat, which can result in weight gain if not burned off.   

“However, this study shows that if an otherwise healthy person overindulges occasionally, for example eating a large buffet meal or Christmas lunch, then there are no immediate negative consequences in terms of losing metabolic control,”  James Betts, the professor who oversaw the study, added. 

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