A new study at the Diabetes Obesity and Metabolism Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, shows an increased risk of type 2 diabetes due to binge drinking as it induces insulin resistance, reports Medical Xpress.

Researchers conducted an animal study involving rats who were given alcohol for three days to replicate human habit of binge drinking.

"Insulin resistance has emerged as a key metabolic defect leading to Type 2 diabetes and coronary artery disease (CAD)," said Dr. Christoph Buettner, senior author of the study and associate professor of medicine, according to Medical Xpress. "Someone who regularly binge drinks even once a week, over many years, may remain in an insulin resistant state for an extended period of time, potentially years."

The study involved a control group in order to analyze the results with the rats treated with alcohol. Researchers conducted tests after alcohol was not found in the blood to study the glucose metabolism by taking samples of blood and calculating the time taken to dissolve glucose in the blood. The glucose dissolve rate was lower in the rats treated with alcohol than the ones in the control group. Higher plasma insulin levels were noted in the rats treated with alcohol, which on the other hand suggests insulin resistance resulting in higher risk of type 2 diabetes, reports Medical Xpress.

"Previously it was unclear whether binge drinking was associated with an increased risk for diabetes, since a person who binge drinks may also tend to binge eat, or at least eat too much," said Claudia Lindtner, MD, first author of the study and an associate researcher of medicine, endocrinology, diabetes and bone disease at the Icahn School of Medicine, said the report. "Our data show for the first time that binge drinking induces insulin resistance directly and can occur independent of differences in caloric intake."

The findings of the study are published online in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

@ 2018 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.