Doctors from the University of Missouri's Department of Nutrition and Exercise Physiology advise obese women to have three large meals a day instead of smaller meals throughout the day for a healthy metabolism.
It's been a common belief that smaller meals throughout the day rather than a few large meals a day is the best solution to keep one from gaining weight. However, contrary to this popular belief Tim Heden, a doctoral student in University of Missouri's Department of Nutrition and Exercise Physiology suggests that to help them gain a healthier metabolism, obese women should opt for three large meals a day instead of smaller meals throughout the day.
"Eating larger meals less often lowered blood-fat levels," Heden said. "Over time, consistently eating fewer, larger meals each day could lower the women's blood-fat levels and thereby lower their risk of developing heart disease."
The study included tests carried out on eight obese women during two different sessions, reports Medical Xpress. These women were given 1500 calories a day. During the first session these calories were divided into three meals and in the second session they were divided into six smaller meals. During both sessions, the sugar and fat levels in the women's blood were tested every 30 minutes.
It was found that during the first session the women showed a healthier metabolism.
"The mass media and many health care practitioners often advocate eating several small meals throughout the day," Heden said. "However, when we examined the literature, we didn't find many studies examining or supporting this popular claim. This lack of research led to our study, which is one of the first to examine how meal frequency affects insulin and blood-fat levels in obese women during an entire day of eating."
According to Heden, these findings could help doctors and nutritionists improvise on earlier metabolism and weight loss programs for obese women.
"With multiple meals throughout the day, you have to be careful. If you start consuming several meals, there's more potential to overeat or to make unhealthy snack choices with easily accessible junk food," said Jill Kanaley, professor in the Department of Nutrition and Exercise Physiology and study co-author. "Some people are good at making efforts to eat healthy snacks; however, most people aren't, and they end up taking in too many calories. The more times you sit down to eat, the more calories you're probably going to take in."
