Crash diets cause short-term changes in the body that may lead to long-term health consequences, including more abdominal fat, according to a study released by the American Physiological Society. The study was conducted by researchers at Georgetown University.

Female rats ate a diet that contained 60 percent fewer calories than their normal diet — the human equivalent of going from 2,000 calories a day to an 800-calorie diet. The diet quickly caused a decrease in body weight, blood pressure, heart rate, and kidney function, but all returned to normal when the rats resumed their typical eating patterns.

Three months after the diet ended, however, the rats had accumulated more abdominal fat and less muscle than the control animals, and a hormone that increases blood pressure (angiotension II) was more potent. Researchers believe that the body changes might lead to long-term health risks for people who go on crash diets.

The study’s authors noted that women are more likely than men to go on crash diets, and that’s why they used female rats.