Consequence of Omitting or Adding a Meal in Man on Body Composition, Food Intake, and Metabolism

Abstract

CHAPELOT, DIDIER, CORINNE MARMONIER, ROBERTE AUBERT, CHLOÉ ALLÈ GRE, NICOLAS GAUSSERES, MARC FANTINO, AND JEANINE LOUIS-SYLVESTRE. Consequence of omitting or adding a meal in man on body composition, food intake, and metabolism. Obesity. 2006;14:215-227. Objective: To investigate in man the consequence on body composition and related biological and metabolic parameters of omitting or adding a meal. Research Methods and Procedures: Twenty-four young normal-weight male subjects were recruited, 12 usual fourmeal and 12 usual three-meal eaters, differing only in the consumption of an afternoon meal. They omitted or added a fourth meal during a 28-day habituation period and were asked to report their intake on three 3-day occasions. Before and after this habituation period, subjects participated in a session with a time-blinded procedure, and blood was collected continuously from lunch to the spontaneously requested dinner. Body composition, respiratory quotient, and biochemical parameters were measured in the late evening preceding each session. Results: Omitting a meal was followed by increases in fat mass (360 Ϯ 115 grams, p Ͻ 0.05), late evening leptin concentration (20.7 Ϯ 11.0%, p Ͻ 0.05), and respiratory quotient (3.7 Ϯ 1.4%, p Ͻ 0.05). Increase in the percentage of dietary fat during the habituation period (ϩ4.1 Ϯ 2.0%, p Ͻ 0.05) was correlated with fat mass (r ϭ 0.66, p Ͻ 0.05). Adding a meal had no effect, but, in both groups, the change in energy content at this fourth eating occasion was correlated with the change in adiposity. Discussion: Our results suggest that adiposity may increase when young lean male subjects switch from a four-to a three-meal pattern by removing their usual afternoon meal. This effect could be partly mediated by a change in the macronutrient composition of the diet.

Weight control practices of Division I National Collegiate Athletic Association athletes

“…Behaviors of concern most frequently employed by participants in this sample were skipping meals and exercising more than usual. Skipping meals, which leads to within-day energy deficits, can contribute to higher body fat levels 25 and may be particularly problematic for athletes because of their high energy demands during certain periods of the day. 26 Of equal concern, using excessive exercise to increase energy expenditure represents a potentially deleterious strategy to reduce body weight in athletes.…”

Sleep, circadian rhythm and body weight: parallel developments

“…In healthy young men, habitual meal frequency appeared to be of greater significance in energy-intake regulation than forced meal frequency (117)(118)(119)(120) . Adiposity may increase when young lean male subjects switch from a four-to a three-meal pattern by removing their usual afternoon meal, partly mediated by a change in the macronutrient composition of the diet (121) . Assessment of the effect of omitting or adding the third meal, revealing that eating three meals compared with two meals had no effects on 24 h energy expenditure, diet-induced thermogenesis, activity-induced energy expenditure and sleeping metabolic rate.…”

Maximum Meal Calorie Variation and Cardiovascular Risk Factors

“…23,24) Increased fat mass and respiratory quotient have been suggested to be another hypothesis which is a ributable to gorging pa ern of diets. 25,26) Chapelot et al 26) suggested that body fat and respiratory quotient were increased in subjects who were used to eating four meals per day switched to three meals per day for 4 weeks in 24 men.…”

“…Breakfast skipping can lead to overeating later in the day for example, having one big meal in the evening, 27,28) as well as e ect of consuming different macronutrient composition of the diet. 26) Besides, omi ing breakfast showed the feature of decreasing eating frequency. 7) Skipping at least one meal a day might be an extreme example of the big maximum meal calorie variation.…”