When You Eat May Be Key to Weight Control
When You Eat May Be Key to Weight Control
Jan. 26, 2005 - When it comes to maintaining a healthy weight, when you eat may be as important as what you eat.
New research suggests that people who eat erratically get more calories and burn them less quickly than those who have set eating times throughout the day. So whether you eat just a few relatively large meals or a lot of small ones, maintaining a regular eating schedule may help keep off the extra pounds.
"Naturally, it is important not to take in too many calories, no matter how many times a day you eat," researcher Ian A. Macdonald, PhD, from England's University of Nottingham, tells WebMD. "But our findings indicate that establishing a regular eating pattern may also be important."
Macdonald studied 10 obese but otherwise healthy women. The women ate what and how much they wanted. For two weeks, some of the women ate three meals and three snacks a day with regular intervals between eating. The other women varied their schedule -- eating anywhere from three to nine times a day.
When the women followed the regular eating schedule they took in fewer calories during the day than when they ate erratically. According to Macdonald, the women tended to underreport their daily food intake no matter which schedule they were following, but they appeared to eat about 120 fewer calories when following the regular schedule vs. the erratic one.
Over the course of a month, eating 120 fewer calories a day would shed 1 pound of body fat.
Irregular eating was also found to slow the rate at which calories were burned and raise levels of "LDL" bad cholesterol. Insulin resistance, an indicator of diabetes risk, also worsened. The findings are reported in the January issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
In an editorial accompanying the study, nutrition researchers Megan McCrory, PhD, and Elizabeth J. Parks, PhD, write that it is not clear if or to what extent erratic eating contributes to obesity.
A major drawback of the study, McCrory tells WebMD, is that it relied on the participants to report their own food intake. People tend to underreport how much food they eat, especially if they are overweight.
When You Eat May Be Key to Weight Control
Erratic Eating Could Play Role in Obesity
Jan. 26, 2005 - When it comes to maintaining a healthy weight, when you eat may be as important as what you eat.
New research suggests that people who eat erratically get more calories and burn them less quickly than those who have set eating times throughout the day. So whether you eat just a few relatively large meals or a lot of small ones, maintaining a regular eating schedule may help keep off the extra pounds.
"Naturally, it is important not to take in too many calories, no matter how many times a day you eat," researcher Ian A. Macdonald, PhD, from England's University of Nottingham, tells WebMD. "But our findings indicate that establishing a regular eating pattern may also be important."
The Magic Number
Macdonald studied 10 obese but otherwise healthy women. The women ate what and how much they wanted. For two weeks, some of the women ate three meals and three snacks a day with regular intervals between eating. The other women varied their schedule -- eating anywhere from three to nine times a day.
When the women followed the regular eating schedule they took in fewer calories during the day than when they ate erratically. According to Macdonald, the women tended to underreport their daily food intake no matter which schedule they were following, but they appeared to eat about 120 fewer calories when following the regular schedule vs. the erratic one.
Over the course of a month, eating 120 fewer calories a day would shed 1 pound of body fat.
Irregular eating was also found to slow the rate at which calories were burned and raise levels of "LDL" bad cholesterol. Insulin resistance, an indicator of diabetes risk, also worsened. The findings are reported in the January issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
Eat Breakfast; Don't Eat Late at Night
In an editorial accompanying the study, nutrition researchers Megan McCrory, PhD, and Elizabeth J. Parks, PhD, write that it is not clear if or to what extent erratic eating contributes to obesity.
A major drawback of the study, McCrory tells WebMD, is that it relied on the participants to report their own food intake. People tend to underreport how much food they eat, especially if they are overweight.
