A Guidelines Paper for General PublicLea Countryman & Brian MorganWill Eating More Often Make You Thinner and Healthier?Will Eating More Often Lower Risk for Cardiovascular Disease?Can I Get Colon Cancer From Eating More Often?Nibbling versus GorgingThe Real DealNibbling versus gorging: More Meals May Mean More Health.A Guidelines Paper for General PublicLea Countryman & Brian MorganSpring 2005A paper for Health MagazineIn an era of bigger is better, and fast seals the deal, the notion of smaller meals spread out throughout the day may seem difficult and time consuming. But when it comesto health, smaller meals throughout the day may very well turn out to be a prescription for a healthier life. Americans eat on average, 3.12 meals a day. Is this enough? How does the frequency of one’s eating affect general health? And does it have an effect on body weight, heart disease or even cancer?Much today is being written about diet and nutrition, most of which focuses on what to eat, but little attention is being given on how to eat. Indeed, whether it is “better” to eat many small meals a day or have fewer large meals is a common question. Comparing the potential benefits of nibbling and of gorging has been the focus of much animal and human research, but no clear consensus has emerged. Varied conclusions from research show that this issue is unresolved and requires more attention (see Tables 1,2,3). Some research has found a connection between nibbling as a meal pattern and decrease in weight (11). Other studies have shown that fewer meals taken throughout the day leads to weight gain (3). Risk for Cardiovascular disease may be decreased by increasing meal frequency because of the reduction of harmful cholesterol in the blood (12,16). But another group of researchers found that increasing meal frequency does not decrease harmful cholesterol and therefore does not reduce the risk of heart disease. 1Body Mass Index (BMI) is a scientific way of relating weight in lbs to height in inches. BMI is commonly used as a measure of persons obesity. However it does not differentiate between body fat and muscle. So a person with a high BMI When it comes to colon cancer, increasing meal frequency can be very harmful. In fact research has found increasing meal frequency can increase the risk of colon cancer by 50% in men (18).The research is scattered; some studies found benefits and some found no benefitsfrom increasing meal frequency. Although many studies showed no benefits there seems to be greater support in favor of meal frequency for overall improvement of health. The following examines the research on meal frequency for each individual health category: obesity, cholesterol, heart disease and colon cancer. Will Eating More Often Make You Thinner and Healthier?Most of us know our country is in trouble when it comes to our weight. Nearly two-thirds of adults in the United States are overweight and more than 30 percent are obese (National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive andKidney Diseases 2003). What may come as a surprise, is thealarming rate at which people are losing their battle withobesity. According to a recent report, the number ofindividuals considered morbidly (people with a BMI of 40or higher) or severely obese (people being 100 lbs over weight) rose from 1 in 200 adults in 1986 to 1 in 50 in the year 2000 (4). To make matters even worse, the number of peoplewith a BMI of 50 or greater escalated from 1 in 2,000 to 1 in 400 during this same time period (4). Statistics like this are frightening when you consider the health consequences 2of being overweight or obese. We now know a laundry list of risk factors associated with obesity such as type II diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure and limited mobility, which can seriously threaten how long and how well people live. Nibbling throughout the day is showing to be a good way to regulate weight and loose unnecessary fat. According to a recent report, people who eat more frequently will be thinner (11). This study of 499 people monitored the effects of overall caloric intake and exercise. They found that, on average, participants ate just under four meals each day (3.92). Men ate an average of 2,259 calories daily, and women ate 1,641 calories daily. People who reported eating four or more times per day were 45 percent less likely to be obese than those who reported eating three or fewer times each day. In addition, people who skipped breakfast were 4.5 times more likely to be obese than people who regularly ate breakfast. This could be because the study found that on days participants skipped breakfast they ate more. Perhaps we are like ravenous wolves that if deprived offood for a long time, and are then presented with food, eat as if they may never see food again. This could be because of the body’s natural survival instinct; if food is scarce, you’d better stuff yourself as best you can, because you don’t know how long it will be before you will find food again. In addition, the International Journal of Obesity & Related Metabolic Disorders reported that frequent meals reduced appetite by 27%! This could be very beneficial for people trying to lose weight and eat a more healthy diet. The study was conducted using two groups of healthy overweight men. One group had a large breakfast, then the second meal five hours later, with no snacking in between. The second group ate the same amount of same food but divided it into five meals, given hourly. After both groups had 3completed the five hours they were given an “all you can eat” meal, and which group ate more? Yes, the gorgers. These studies suggest that increased meal frequency can reduce the risks of obesity appear to be very promising. However there is other research that does not agree with these findings. A review, conducted by Bellisle F, et al. (1997), examined many studies, which observed the relationship between meal frequency and obesity (2). This review argued that many of these studies found that there was little or no effect of meal frequency on obesity. Also thestudies much like the ones mentioned above, which did find that increased meal frequency lessened the risk of obesity, were criticized by this review for showing weak evidence of this relationship. In addition, subjects may have been under reporting what they ate leading to insufficient data. The review concluded that there is insufficient evidence that weight loss can be attributed