Dieting?

Bad news for ‘grazers’

For many years we have been told that small, regular meals are the way to go when it comes to optimising metabolic rate and supporting weight loss.

Now new research published by Deakin University researcher Dr Rebecca Leech has found that frequent snacking appears to be doing us more harm than good in the weight control stakes. Over a number of studies, Dr Leech examined the relationship between meal timing, meal and snack size and the overall calorie intake of men and women.

One of the analyses of more than 5000 Australian men and women’s dietary intake over a 24-hour period found three distinct eating styles — those who had regular, conventional meals, those who had slightly later meals, and those who were grazers.

The first eating style was defined as those likely to have their lunch and dinner meals close to or at 12pm and 6pm each day and accounted for roughly 40 per cent of dietary patterns analysed.

The later eaters had a high probability of consuming lunch one hour or more later than conventional eaters and accounted for roughly 35 per cent of responders. Finally, grazers reported frequent periods of energy or calorie intake and accounted for 25 per cent of women and 23 per cent of men in the study.

The study found that a grazing style of eating was linked to increased snack consumption, a higher calorie intake from snacks and eating more calories later in the day.

More specifically, this style of eating was linked to a higher intake of unhealthy foods and women who were more likely to be overweight or obese.

No such relationship was found between meal frequency and an increased risk of being overweight or obese, only snacking frequency, in particular snacking on discretionary (junk foods) after 8pm at night.

— news.com.au