Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-v9fdk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-03T00:05:48.547Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Meal frequency and energy balance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 March 2007

France Bellisle ,
Regina McDevitt  and
Andrew M. Prentice
France Bellisle
Affiliation:
Inserm U341, Hotel Dieu de Paris, 1 place du Parvis Notre-Dame, 75181 Pans Cedex 04, France
Regina McDevitt
Affiliation:
MRC Dunn Clinical Nutrition Centre, Hills Road, Cambridge CB2 2DH, France
Andrew M. Prentice
Affiliation:
MRC Dunn Clinical Nutrition Centre, Hills Road, Cambridge CB2 2DH, France
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Several epidemiological studies have observed an inverse relationship between people's habitual frequency of eating and body weight, leading to the suggestion that a ‘nibbling’ meal pattern may help in the avoidance of obesity. A review of all pertinent studies shows that, although many fail to find any significant relationship, the relationship is consistently inverse in those that do observe a relationship. However, this finding is highly vulnerable to the probable confounding effects of post hoc changes in dietary patterns as a consequence of weight gain and to dietary under-reporting which undoubtedly invalidates some of the studies. We conclude that the epidemiological evidence is at best very weak, and almost certainly represents an artefact. A detailed review of the possible mechanistic explanations for a metabolic advantage of nibbling meal patterns failed to reveal significant benefits in respect of energy expenditure. Although some short-term studies suggest that the thermic effect of feeding is higher when an isoenergetic test load is divided into multiple small meals, other studies refute this, and most are neutral. More importantly, studies using whole-body calorimetry and doubly-labelled water to assess total 24h energy expenditure find no difference between nibbling and gorging. Finally, with the exception of a single study, there is no evidence that weight loss on hypoenergetic regimens is altered by meal frequency. We conclude that any effects of meal pattern on the regulation of body weight are likely to be mediated through effects on the food intake side of the energy balance equation.

Keywords

Meal frequencyNibblingGorgingEnergy balance
Type
Research Article
Information
British Journal of Nutrition , Volume 77 , Issue S1 , April 1997 , pp. S57 - S70
Copyright
Copyright © The Nutrition Society 1997

References

REFERENCES

Acheson, K. J., Flatt, J.-P. & Jéquier, E. (1982). Glycogen synthesis versus lipogenesis after a 500 gram carbohydrate meal in man. Metabolism 31, 1234–1240.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Adams, C. E. & Morgan, K. J. (1981). Periodicity of eating: implications for human food consumption. Nutrition Research 1, 525–550.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anderson, I. & Rossner, S. (1996). Meal patterns in obese and normal weight men: The ‘Gustaf’ study. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition 50, 639–646.Google Scholar
Belko, A. Z. & Barbieri, T. F. (1987). Effect of meal size and frequency on the thermic effect of food. Nutrition Research 7, 237–242.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bellisle, F. (1995). Grignotage et distribution circadienne de la consommation alimentaire (Nibbling and circadian distribution of food consumption). Cahiers de Nutrition Dietetique 30, 387–394.Google Scholar
Black, A. E., Prentice, A. M., Goldberg, G. R., Jebb, S. A., Bingham, S. A., Livingstone, M. B. E. & Coward, W. A. (1993). Measurements of total energy expenditure provide insights into the validity of dietary measurements of energy intake. Journal of the American Dietetic Association 93, 572–579.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bortz, W. M., Wroldsen, A., Issekutz, B. & Rodahl, K. (1966). Weight loss and frequency of feeding. New England Journal of Medicine 274, 376–379.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Charzewska, J., Kulesza, W., Brzezinska, J. & Chwojnowska, Z. (1981). Relationship between obesity or overweight development and the frequency of meals, their distribution during the day and consumption of atherogenic food products. Zywienie Czlowieka 8, 217–227 (in Polish).Google Scholar
Cohn, C. & Allweiss, M. D. (1963). Fats, rats, chickens, and men - results of feeding frequency. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 12, 255–265.Google Scholar
Dallosso, H., Murgatroyd, P. R. & James, W. P. T. (1982). Feeding frequency and energy balance in adult males. Human Nutrition: Clinical Nutrition 36C, 25–39.Google ScholarPubMed
de Castro, J. (1997). Socio-cultural determinants of meal size and frequency. British Journal of Nutrition 77, Suppl. 1, S39–S55.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Debry, G., Azouaou, R., Vassilitch, I. & Mottaz, G. (1973). Ponderal losses in obese subjects submitted to restricted diets differing by nibbling and by lipid and carbohydrate. In Energy Balance in Man, pp. 305–310 [Apfelbaum, M.editor]. Paris: Masson.Google Scholar
Dreon, D. M., Frey-Hewitt, B., Ellsworth, N., Williams, P. T., Terry, E. B. & Wood, P. D. (1988). Dietary fat: carbohydrate ratio and obesity in middle-aged men. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 47, 995–1000.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Edelstein, S. L., Barrett-Connor, E. L., Wingard, D. L. & Cohn, B. A. (1992). Increased meal frequency associated with decreased cholesterol concentrations; Rancho Bernardo, CA, 1984–1987. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 55, 664–669.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fabry, P., Fodor, J., Hejl, Z., Braun, T. & Zvolankova, K. (1964). The frequency of meals: its relation to overweight, hypercholesterolaemia, and decreased glucose tolerance. Lancet ii, 614–615.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fabry, P., Hejda, S., Cerna, K., Osoncova, K., Pechor, J. & Zvolankova, K. (1966). Effect of meal frequency in schoolchildren: changes in weight-height proportion and skinfold thickness. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 18, 358–361.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fabry, P. & Tepperman, J. (1970). Meal frequency - a possible factor in human pathology. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 23, 1059–1068.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Finkelstein, B. & Fryer, B. A. (1971). Meal frequency and weight reduction of young women. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 24, 465–468.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Flatt, J.-P. (1985). Energetics of intermediary metabolism. Substrate and Energy Metabolism, pp. 58–69 [Garrow, J. S. and Halliday, D. editors]. London: John Libbey.Google Scholar
Garrow, J. S., Durrant, M., Blaza, S., Wilkins, D., Royston, P. & Sunkin, S. (1981). The effect of meal frequency and protein concentration on the composition of the weight lost by obese subjects. British Journal of Nutrition 45, 5–15.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gatenby, S. J. (1997). Eating frequency: methodological and dietary aspects. British Journal of Nutrition 77, Suppl. 1, S7–S20.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goldberg, G. R., Black, A. E., Jebb, S. A., Cole, T. J., Murgatroyd, P. R., Coward, W. A. & Prentice, A. M. (1991). Critical evaluation of energy intake data using fundamental principles of energy physiology. 1. Derivation of cut-off limits to identify under-recording. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition 45, 569–581.Google ScholarPubMed
Heitmann, B. L. & Lissner, L. (1995). Dietary underreporting by obese individuals - is it specific or nonspecific? British Medical Journal 311, 986–989.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hejda, S. & Fabry, P. (1964). Frequency of food intake in relation to some parameters of the nutritional status. Nutrition Dieta 6, 216–221.Google ScholarPubMed
Jenkins, D. J. A. (1997). Carbohydrate tolerance and food frequency. British Journal of Nutrition 77, Suppl. 1, S71–S81.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jéquier, E. (1992). Caloric balance versus nutrient balance. Energy Metabolism: Tissue Determinants and Cellular Corollaries, pp. 123–136 [Kinney, J. M. and Tucker, H. N.editors]. New York: Raven Press.Google Scholar
Kant, A. K. (1995). Frequency of eating occasions and weight change in NHANES I Epidemiologic Follow-up Study. International Journal of Obesity 19, 468–474.Google ScholarPubMed
Kinabo, J. L. D. & Durnin, J. V. G. A. (1990). Effect of meal frequency on the thermic effect of food in women. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition 44, 389–395.Google ScholarPubMed
King, S. M. & Gibney, M. J. (1997). The effect of dietetic advice on incorporating altered meal frequency for hyperlipidaemic patients on low-fat diets. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society 56, 131A.Google Scholar
Kulesza, W. (1980). Dietary intake of obese women. Zywienie Czlowieka 7, 69–76.Google Scholar
LeBlanc, J., Mercier, I. & Nadeau, A. (1993). Components of postprandial thermogenesis in relation to meal frequency in humans. Canadian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology 71, 879–883.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lichtman, S. W., Pisarska, K., Berman, E. R., Pestone, H., Dowling, H., Offenbacker, E., Weisser, H., Heshka, S., Matthews, D. E. & Heymsfield, S. B. (1992). Discrepancy between self-reported and actual caloric intake and exercise in obese subjects. New England Journal of Medicine 327, 1893–1898.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Livingstone, M. B. E., Prentice, A. M., Strain, J. J., Coward, W. A., Black, A. E., Barker, M. E., McKenna, P. G. & Whitehead, R. G. (1990). Accuracy of weighed dietary records in studies of diet and health. British Medical Journal 300, 708–712.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mann, J. (1997). Meal frequency and plasma lipids and lipoproteins. British Journal of Nutrition 77, Suppl. 1, S83–S90.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Metzner, H. L., Lamphiear, D. E., Wheeler, N. C. & Larkin, F. A. (1977). The relationship between frequency of eating and adiposity in adult men and women in the Tecumseh Community Health Study. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 30, 712–715.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Molnar, D. (1992). The effect of meal frequency on postprandial thermogenesis in obese children. Padiatrie Padologi 27, 177–181.Google ScholarPubMed
Nunes, W. T. & Canham, J. E. (1963). The effect of varied periodicity of eating on serum lipids and carbohydrate tolerance in man. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 12, 334–339.Google Scholar
Poppitt, S. D., Swann, D., Black, A. E. & Prentice, A. M. (1995). Is under-reporting of energy intake in obese women macronutrient specific? Covert measurements in a metabolic facility. International Journal of Obesity 19, Suppl. 2, 29.Google Scholar
Prentice, A. M., Black, A. E., Coward, W. A., Davies, H. L., Goldberg, G. R., Murgatroyd, P. R., Ashford, J., Sawyer, M. & Whitehead, R. G. (1986). High levels of energy expenditure in obese women. British Medical Journal 292, 983–987.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Summerbell, C. D., Moody, R. C., Shanks, J., Stock, M. J. & Geissler, C. (1996). Relationship between feeding pattern and body mass index in 220 free-living people in four age groups. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition 50, 513–519.Google ScholarPubMed
Swindells, Y. E., Holmes, S. H. & Robinson, M. F. (1968). The metabolic response of young women to changes in the frequency of meals. British Journal of Nutrition 22, 667–680.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tai, M. M., Castillo, P. & Pi-Sunyer, F. X. (1991). Meal size and frequency: effect on the thermic effect of food. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 54, 783–787.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Thomas, J. A. & Call, D. (1973). Eating between meals - a nutritional problem among teenagers? Nutrition Reviews 31, 137–139.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Verboeket-van de Venne, W. P. H. G. & Westerterp, K. R. (1991). Influence of the feeding frequency on nutrient utilisation in man: consequences for energy metabolism. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition 45, 161–169.Google ScholarPubMed
Verboeket-van de Venne, W. P. H. G. & Westerterp, K. R. (1993). Frequency of feeding, weight reduction and energy metabolism. International Journal of Obesity 17, 31–36.Google ScholarPubMed
Verboeket-van de Venne, W. P. H. G., Westerterp, K. R. & Kester, A. D. M. (1993). Effect of the pattern of food intake on human energy metabolism. British Journal of Nutrition 70, 103–115.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wolfram, G., Kirchbegner, M., Müller, H. L. & Hollomey, S. (1987). Thermogenese des Menschen bei unterschiedlicher Malzeitenhäufigkeit (Thermogenesis in human subjects with differing meal frequencies). Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism 31, 88–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Young, C. M., Scanlon, S. S., Topping, C. M., Simko, V. & Lutwak, L. (1971). Frequency of feeding, weight reduction and body composition. Journal of the American Dietetic Association 59, 466–472.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed