Stabilisation of plasma glucose concentrations appears to be one of the pivotal requirements for weight loss. In clinical trials, increased protein and fibre intakes have both been shown to cause weight loss in overweight individuals, and this effect is likely due to their ability to inhibit glucose absorption and decrease the glycaemic effect of food. The benefits of a dietary pattern consisting of more frequent meals is that energy consumption is spread out over the course of the day. This type of eating is often referred to as ‘grazing’, and theory suggests, should reduce the glycaemic load of each meal with a subsequent stabilisation of plasma glucose levels. This may have appetite regulatory effects as well as positive benefits on insulin sensitivity. If a more frequent meal pattern was beneficial to weight control, there should exist an inverse association between meal frequency and body mass index (BMI).
Researchers1 have investigated the association between meal frequency and BMI in 2372 adolescent girls at ages 9 to 10 and again at 19 to 20 years, using s prospective design study. The results showed that for white girls, increased total meal and snack frequency was associated with a lower increases in BMI and waist circumference over 10 years. In black girls, lower initial meal and snack frequencies (at ages 9 to 10 years) were associated with lower increases in BMI and waist circumference. Differences in meal frequency patterns were reported between black and white girls and young and old girls such that meal frequency increased in older girls who were white. After adjusting for confounding variable such as initial adiposity, physical activity, total energy intake and dieting for weight loss, their was a significant inverse association between total eating frequency and increase in BMI.
These results suggest that a dietary pattern consisting on increased meal frequency is associated with a reduced gain in adiposity. This supports the theory that stabilisation of plasma glucose levels is important to maintaining correct weight and preventing weight gain. Other studies have investigated similar data, but found no association between meal frequency and adiposity. However, this may depend on how the study authors define a snack or a meal. Consuming sucrose sweetened soft drinks as a snack for example, would not be beneficial to long turn glycaemic control due to the detrimental effects of such foods on insulin sensitivity and plasma lipid levels. Distinction between the frequency of consumption of individual snack foods through a food frequency questionnaire rather than the frequency of snacking episodes may also affect study results. Such subtle nuances in the design of such prospective studies should therefore be taken into consideration when interpreting the data.
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