Are Smaller More Frequent Meals Really That Beneficial?
You hear it time and time again when getting advice while trying to lose weight – eat smaller, but more frequent meals to boost your rate of fat loss.
Is there any truth to this though?
Researchers out of the Warsaw Agricultural University in Poland recently set out to assess the influence of meal frequency on changes in body weight and protein status. This was determined by measuring the rate of amino acid oxidation while all subjects were on a fixed daily protein intake.
The test groups were either given two large meals a day – one in the morning and one at the end, or six evenly spaced meals throughout the day, with both groups receiving the same amount of protein each.
It was seen that after 3 weeks of this type of feeding schedule, the group that was fed continuously had almost a 20% higher growth rate than the rats who were fed the two meals, demonstrating that more frequent feedings, as far as protein oxidation is concerned, is more preferable.
Therefore, to put this into practice, try as best as you can to evenly space your meals and protein distribution out throughout the day. This will help deliver you the best results in terms of muscular growth.
It is important to note though that regardless of how the protein is spread out, if you’re not getting enough protein to begin with, you will definitely see declines in training status.
Reference:
Buijko, J. et al. (1997). Benefit of more but smaller meals at a fixed daily protein intake. Warsaw Agricultural University, Poland.
