NYTimes - Six meals a day > Three meals a day = Bogus

Tamago

New member
Something most of us have already known for a long time, but nice to see a major source of media actually spreading accurate info regarding weight loss..



"""The notion behind eating smaller, more frequent meals is simple: spreading out one’s daily calories over six meals stimulates the metabolism, keeping it going at a faster pace and thereby burning more calories.

Some studies have found modest health benefits to eating smaller meals, but often the research involved extremes, like comparing the effects of two or three large daily meals with those of a dozen or more snacks. Six meals, according to some weight-loss books and fad diets, is a more realistic approach.

But don’t count on it. As long as total caloric and nutrient intake stays the same, then metabolism, at the end of the day, should stay the same as well. One study that carefully demonstrated this, published in 2009 in The British Journal of Nutrition, involved groups of overweight men and women who were randomly assigned to very strict low-calorie diets and followed for eight weeks. Each subject consumed the same number of calories per day, but one group took in three meals a day and the other six.

Both groups lost significant and equivalent amounts of weight. There was no difference between them in fat loss, appetite control or measurements of hormones that signal hunger and satiety. Other studies have had similar results.

For a more reliable metabolic boost, studies show, try exercise.

THE BOTTOM LINE

There is no solid evidence that six small meals a day instead of three will speed metabolism."""
 
It's good to hear a news organization actually promoting this "new" information.

I remember when I first started dieting a couple of years ago and doing all these little snack size meals thru the day and it was such a freaking hassle.

Yay for eating when your hungry!
 
Interestingly, the study also found that higher protein diets were more satiating, independent of the meal frequency.



Obesity (Silver Spring). 2010 Mar 25. [Epub ahead of print]
The Influence of Higher Protein Intake and Greater Eating Frequency on Appetite Control in Overweight and Obese Men.

Leidy HJ, Armstrong CL, Tang M, Mattes RD, Campbell WW.

[1] Department of Dietetics & Nutrition, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, Kansas, USA [2] Department of Foods & Nutrition, Ingestive Behavior Research Center, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of dietary protein intake and eating frequency on perceived appetite, satiety, and hormonal responses in overweight/obese men. Thirteen men (age 51 +/- 4 years; BMI 31.3 +/- 0.8 kg/m(2)) consumed eucaloric diets containing normal protein (79 +/- 2 g protein/day; 14% of energy intake as protein) or higher protein (138 +/- 3 g protein/day; 25% of energy intake as protein) equally divided among three eating occasions (3-EO; every 4 h) or six eating occasions (6-EO; every 2 h) on four separate days in randomized order. Hunger, fullness, plasma glucose, and hormonal responses were assessed throughout 11 h. No protein x eating frequency interactions were observed for any of the outcomes. Independent of eating frequency, higher protein led to greater daily fullness (P < 0.05) and peptide YY (PYY) concentrations (P < 0.05). In contrast, higher protein led to greater daily ghrelin concentrations (P < 0.05) vs. normal protein. Protein quantity did not influence daily hunger, glucose, or insulin concentrations. Independent of dietary protein, 6-EO led to lower daily fullness (P < 0.05) and PYY concentrations (P < 0.05). The 6-EO also led to lower glucose (P < 0.05) and insulin concentrations (P < 0.05) vs. 3-EO. Although the hunger-related perceived sensations and hormonal responses were conflicting, the fullness-related responses were consistently greater with higher protein intake but lower with increased eating frequency. Collectively, these data suggest that higher protein intake promotes satiety and challenge the concept that increasing the number of eating occasions enhances satiety in overweight and obese men.

PMID: 20339363 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
 
What always suprizes me about this "claim" (to eat 6 small meals instead of 3 large ones) is that most people don't have good portion control!

Its like putting a child in a sweetshop and saying "don't touch anything..." people need to get correct portion control before they can really even consider taking this on I think.
 
Great thread!!!

I've tried the 6 small meals a day thing and it DOES NOT work for me. As Kayshiz mentioned its such a freaking hassle to make those meals. And after eating a tiny meal you're still hungry so all you can think about is the next meal. IMO eating 6 different things just gives a greater opportunity to binge.

I eat 2-3 larger meals during the day and snacks in between. I'm less hungry that way personally
 
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