Since childhood, most of us follow a three-meals-a-day template consisting of breakfast, lunch, and dinner. More recently, you may have heard that switching to several smaller meals is the healthier choice. This second approach is said to aid in weight loss, promote satiety, prevent fatigue, and prevent chronic diseases. While a few studies support some of these claims, the smaller meals approach is by no means a cure-all.
Let’s break down each of the purported health benefits and see which meal frequency is the better choice:
In the study, both groups consumed adequate calories but at a varying frequency, and the researchers didn’t observe any difference in fat loss between them. On the contrary, those who ate 6 smaller meals were feeling hungry earlier and more frequently than those who ate 3 meals a day. Thus, the researchers suggest that those who eat more often are actually more likely to consume more calories.
Therefore, if your goal is to lose weight or prevent weight gain, it’s actually better to avoid snacking and eat less frequently (5-6 hours between breakfast and lunch, and fast for 18-19 hours overnight).
A similar picture can be observed in metabolism. Once again, existing evidence suggests that eating every 2-3 hours does NOT boost your metabolism. It’s actually the opposite - having less frequent meals seems to increase metabolism more.
Related article: The 7 Nutrition Myths That Experts Want You to Forget
Eating fewer, smaller meals may have a limited beneficial effect on the cardiovascular system by improving cholesterol levels. A study from 2019 suggests that those who eat more than 4 meals a day have higher levels of HDL (good) cholesterol and lower triglyceride levels compared to those who eat fewer meals. However, the same study found no differences in LDL (bad) cholesterol levels between the two groups.
But your doctor may still recommend that you split your daily food intake into smaller meals, as an earlier review study found a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes in those who eat smaller, more frequent meals.
One unexpected advantage of more frequent meals lies within the types of foods consumed rather than the frequency per se. According to a 2020 study, eating more frequent, smaller meals often results in higher diet quality overall.
More specifically, this means that people who eat 3 or more meals a day tend to eat more vegetables, fruit, legumes, dairy, and whole grains than those who eat less frequently. They also tend to eat less added salt and sugar than those who only eat once or twice per day.
Needless to say, these are just general tendencies. By all means, a person can only eat 2-3 meals a day and still get all the variety and nutrients from their diet.
In short, eating food more or less frequently doesn’t seem to make a massive difference in your well-being or metabolic rate. Improving the quality of the foods you eat is more important, and if snacking helps you achieve that goal, then great! Just make sure that you practice portion control, otherwise you may put on some unwanted weight.
That being said, certain health conditions, such as gastrointestinal symptoms or diabetes, may benefit from 6-10 smaller meals; but that decision is ultimately up to you and your doctor.
H/T: Medical News Today
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