Small, Frequent Meals May Not Be As Healthy As We Think

Eating frequent, small meals over the course of the day is often recommended as a method to lose weight, but results of a new study suggest that this does not increase metabolism and may in fact increase risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

In an attempt to compare the effects of 2 versus 5 meals within a 24-hour period, researchers assigned 24 lean (BMI 22.9) and obese (BMI 36) women to both 2 and 5 high-fat meals over 2 separate days.
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Using calorimeters and blood samples, researchers measured the 24-hour energy expenditure of the women, as well as serum endotoxin, glucose, insulin, and lipids.

Expenditure was measured every 2 hours from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Overall, meal frequency did no affect 24-hour energy expenditure in either the obese group (2124±312 vs 2142±365 Kcal/day) or lean group (1724±160 vs 1683±166 Kcal/day). 

If total calories and food types are the same, researchers wrote, then frequency of eating does not affect energy expenditure.

The differences in satiety were small between the 2 groups, with obese women reporting that they were slightly hungrier on the 2-meal diet.

Researchers also tested the effects of eating frequency on the release of gut-derived bacteria into the blood.  These bacteria, or endotoxin, cause systemic inflammation, which may increase risk of metabolic disease.

Researchers wrote that “in metabolically healthy lean and obese subjects, increased meal frequency may pose an inflammatory risk posed by circulating endotoxin and triglyceride leading to peak levels at bedtime. As such, small frequent meals may not influence diet induced thermogenesis, but may increase metabolic disease risk.”

–Michael Potts

Piya M, Reddy N, Campbell A, et al. Meal size and frequency influences metabolic endotoxaemia and inflammatory risk but has no effect on diet induced thermogenesis in either lean or obese subjects. Endocrine Abstracts (2014) 34 P226. DOI:10.1530/endoabs.34.P226