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In response to what you asked, here's what I've found:

Effect of the pattern of food intake on human energy metabolism.

* Verboeket-van de Venne WP,
* Westerterp KR,
* Kester AD.

Department of Human Biology, University of Limburg, Maastricht, The Netherlands.

The pattern of food intake can affect the regulation of body weight and lipogenesis. We studied the effect of meal frequency on human energy expenditure (EE) and its components. During 1 week ten male adults (age 25-61 years, body mass index 20.7-30.4 kg/m2) were fed to energy balance at two meals/d (gorging pattern) and during another week at seven meals/d (nibbling pattern). For the first 6 d of each week the food was provided at home, followed by a 36 h stay in a respiration chamber. O2 consumption and CO2 production (and hence EE) were calculated over 24 h. EE in free-living conditions was measured over the 2 weeks with doubly-labelled water (average daily metabolic rate, ADMR). The three major components of ADMR are basal metabolic rate (BMR), diet-induced thermogenesis (DIT) and EE for physical activity (ACT). There was no significant effect of meal frequency on 24 h EE or ADMR. Furthermore, BMR and ACT did not differ between the two patterns. DIT was significantly elevated in the gorging pattern, but this effect was neutralized by correction for the relevant time interval. With the method used for determination of DIT no significant effect of meal frequency on the contribution of DIT to ADMR could be demonstrated.
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So, meal frequency has no effect on metabolism.

However...

Effects of nibbling and gorging on lipid profiles, blood glucose and insulin levels in healthy subjects.

* Rashidi MR,
* Mahboob S,
* Sattarivand R.

Department of Drug Applied Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.

OBJECTIVE: Although there is some evidence indicative of some beneficial effects of an increased meal frequency on the lipid profiles, the results published are controversial. The aim of the present study is to investigate the effects of feeding frequency on blood lipids, glucose and insulin. METHODS: The subjects of this study were 15 healthy non-smoker males aged 27.2 +/- 6.4 years. All subjects were placed on 2 identical diets in which they consumed the same food either as 3 meals at 7-hours intervals (gorging diet) or as 9 snacks at 2 hours intervals (nibbling diet). Each diet was of 2 week's duration and was separated from each other by a period of 3 weeks. At the end of both diets, the plasma was obtained from fasting blood samples and its lipid levels were determined. The study was carried out in Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran between 30 October 1998 and 19 December 1998. RESULTS: The nibbling diet was associated with an increased level of glucose (p<0.01) and a decreased level of insulin (p<0.05). The plasma levels of total cholesterol, triglyceride, low-density lipoprotein, and lipoprotein (a) were found to be lower in the end of nibbling diet compared with the gorging diet, however, only for the last parameter this reduction was significant (p<0.02). The nibbling diet resulted in an insignificant increase in the high-density lipoprotein concentration. CONCLUSION: Taking into account, the difficulty in following the nibbling diet with a fear of weight gain, there would be no advantages in recommending the nibbling dietary pattern for normal free-living subjects, although its metabolic benefits in obese people could be the subject for further studies.
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So, a high frequency nibbling diet helps to blunt insulin production in response to food intake. The ramifications is that since the body either stores or releases, never both at the same time, keeping insulin levels nominal and blunting the body's response will help maintain lipolysis.

I'm currently looking for research on calorie intake as it affects the metabolism.
 
Thank you, I really appreciate your looking into that for me, and look forward to what you find regarding caloric intake.
 
No work in biology, just work for my own interest. I was surprised that the 2-3 hour frequency didn't affect the metabolism.
 
Is it me or does this article suggesting that eating 6 smaller meals every 2-3 hours is actually not that significantly better than a simple 3 bigger meal/day?
 
There's more to it than a blanket statement.

There's a hormonal and chemical consideration.

Again, in terms of metabolism, eating 5-8 meals a day is no different than eating 3x/day.

However, you have to take into account the hormonal response.

Nibble type eating helps to blunt the body's hormonal response to food, in particular, insulin. Thus, eating frequently helps in fat loss by keeping insulin levels lower. It also maintains a high glucose level, thus you'll feel more energized.
 
Ok, I finally hit upon the right search words:

1: JAMA. 2006 Apr 5;295(13):1539-48. Links
Erratum in:
JAMA. 2006 Jun 7;295(21):2482.
Comment in:
JAMA. 2006 Apr 5;295(13):1577-8.
Effect of 6-month calorie restriction on biomarkers of longevity, metabolic adaptation, and oxidative stress in overweight individuals: a randomized controlled trial.Heilbronn LK, de Jonge L, Frisard MI, DeLany JP, Larson-Meyer DE, Rood J, Nguyen T, Martin CK, Volaufova J, Most MM, Greenway FL, Smith SR, Deutsch WA, Williamson DA, Ravussin E; Pennington CALERIE Team.
Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge 70808, USA.

CONTEXT: Prolonged calorie restriction increases life span in rodents. Whether prolonged calorie restriction affects biomarkers of longevity or markers of oxidative stress, or reduces metabolic rate beyond that expected from reduced metabolic mass, has not been investigated in humans. OBJECTIVE: To examine the effects of 6 months of calorie restriction, with or without exercise, in overweight, nonobese (body mass index, 25 to <30) men and women. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Randomized controlled trial of healthy, sedentary men and women (N = 48) conducted between March 2002 and August 2004 at a research center in Baton Rouge, La. INTERVENTION: Participants were randomized to 1 of 4 groups for 6 months: control (weight maintenance diet); calorie restriction (25% calorie restriction of baseline energy requirements); calorie restriction with exercise (12.5% calorie restriction plus 12.5% increase in energy expenditure by structured exercise); very low-calorie diet (890 kcal/d until 15% weight reduction, followed by a weight maintenance diet). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Body composition; dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS), glucose, and insulin levels; protein carbonyls; DNA damage; 24-hour energy expenditure; and core body temperature. RESULTS: Mean (SEM) weight change at 6 months in the 4 groups was as follows: controls, -1.0% (1.1%); calorie restriction, -10.4% (0.9%); calorie restriction with exercise, -10.0% (0.8%); and very low-calorie diet, -13.9% (0.7%). At 6 months, fasting insulin levels were significantly reduced from baseline in the intervention groups (all P<.01), whereas DHEAS and glucose levels were unchanged. Core body temperature was reduced in the calorie restriction and calorie restriction with exercise groups (both P<.05). After adjustment for changes in body composition, sedentary 24-hour energy expenditure was unchanged in controls, but decreased in the calorie restriction (-135 kcal/d [42 kcal/d]), calorie restriction with exercise (-117 kcal/d [52 kcal/d]), and very low-calorie diet (-125 kcal/d [35 kcal/d]) groups (all P<.008). These "metabolic adaptations" (~ 6% more than expected based on loss of metabolic mass) were statistically different from controls (P<.05). Protein carbonyl concentrations were not changed from baseline to month 6 in any group, whereas DNA damage was also reduced from baseline in all intervention groups (P <.005). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that 2 biomarkers of longevity (fasting insulin level and body temperature) are decreased by prolonged calorie restriction in humans and support the theory that metabolic rate is reduced beyond the level expected from reduced metabolic body mass. Studies of longer duration are required to determine if calorie restriction attenuates the aging process in humans. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT00099151.
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This is saying that a severely reduced calorie diet lowers the metabolism far more than science can account for by the cooresponding reduced metabolic (active tissue) body mass.
 
So, if I get this right....eating smaller more frequent meals does not speed up metabolism, but helps in fat loss by maintaining insulin levels = small meals good

Maintaining severely restricted caloric deficit does hurt metabolism.

I was told "starvation mode" was an opinion, and an overrated one at that. While I didn't believe that for one second, I had nothing official (other than magazine articles and the like) to back it up with. Of course, people like that probably still won't listen to outright science, but for my own advancement, I appreciate it.
 
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