This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Frequent eating linked to lower body weight in children, adolescents
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Frequent eating is associated with lower body weight status in children and adolescents, new research suggests.
“Interestingly the inverse association was evident only in boys and not in girls, suggesting that there are sex related differences in dietary patterns and behaviors and their effect on overweight/obesity,” Panagiota Kaisari, MSc, department of nutrition and dietetics, Harokopio University in Athens, and colleagues wrote. “However, at this point it should be noted that the presence of publication bias, and the significant heterogeneity observed in the results of the selected studies, indicates the need for further investigations, in this important scientific field.”
The meta-analysis included 10 cross-sectional studies, one case-control study and 18,849 participants, aged 2 to 19 years, to determine the effect of eating frequency on body weight status.
Researchers found that increased eating frequency vs. the lowest frequency was associated with an OR of 0.78 (95% CI –0.41 to –0.06), or a 22% lower likelihood of being overweight/obese.
They also found that the effect was more significant in boys (OR=0.76; 95% CI, -0.27 to -0.06) but not in girls (OR=0.96; 95% CI, –0.40 to 0.32).
“Clinical trials are warranted to confirm this inverse association, evaluate its clinical applicability, and support a public health recommendation; more studies are also needed to further investigate any sex-related differences, and most importantly, the biological mechanisms,” the researchers wrote.
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts