Weekend binges as 'unhealthy' as regular junk food diet

Turns out those cheat days aren't good for you at all as a new study has revealed that binge eating at the weekend can be just as dangerous as a consistent diet of junk food.

A new study used rats as subjects to examine the effect of strict diet regime on weekdays followed by a weekend of binge eating on the gut's organisms (microbiota).

The results showed that the rats on the cyclical diet were 18 per cent heavier than the ones on a healthy diet only, but were still lighter than those having junk food all the time.

Looking at the microbiota profiles though, the rats on the junk food diet and the cyclical one had their gut profile shifted. Therefore, those consuming junk food all the time and those having it only three days of the week suffered similar, negative, changes to their guts.

However, experts reassure that anyone eating unprocessed foods and an unhealthy diet can quickly change their ways and their gut profile to become healthier for the future.

The study is published in the Molecular Nutrition and Food Research journal.