FIVE SMALL MEALS NO BETTER FOR WEIGHT LOSS THAN HAVING TWO BIG MEALS

Many people are told that in order to boost their metabolism, consume five small meals instead of 2-3 regular meals.  However, a new small study challenges this notion, finding that metabolism is not impacted by meal frequency.

In the study, researchers provided 24 women with diets of a set calorie amount but one day they split the calories into five small meals and on another day they divided them between two meals.  They measured participants' metabolic rate and calories burned on both days and found that the metabolic rate (the rate at which individuals burn calories) did not significantly differ whether eating five or two meals. 

Researchers also took blood samples at the start and before bed on the treatment days to assess how different biomarkers of inflammation responded to the two dietary treatments.  Inflammation is linked to greater risk for heart disease and diabetes.  The researchers found that for lean women there was no difference in inflammatory response to the five-meal plan and the two-meal plan, but that for obese women, they had higher levels of inflammation after the five-meal plan than the two-meal plan.  So, the two-meal plan proved marginally better for obese women in this small study.     

What to do:  This study echoes the findings of previous work.  Weight loss mostly depends on what we eat, not when we eat it.  In this study the intake of participants was kept constant to see if meal timing and frequency influenced metabolism.  However in the real world where individuals choose how much they eat, for some adopting a small and frequent meal plan helps to cut down on total intake while for others more frequent eating translates into greater total intake.  Observe your patterns and choose an eating schedule that allows you to best moderate caloric intake and make healthy choices.   

Adapted from articles available at:

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_145347.html

Source:

Milan Kumar Piya, M.D., clinical lecturer, U.K. National Institute for Health Research, University Hospital Coventry and University of Warwick, England.  Press release for March 25, 2014, presentation, Society for Endocrinology meeting, Liverpool, U.K.