Some of the most popular nutrition tips in recent years are based on the assumption that timing your meals can go a long way in helping you lose weight. For a long time it was believed that when you want to lose weight, it is best to eat a large amount of food at the beginning of the day and minimize subsequent meals.
The logic behind this theory is understandable, especially considering that almost every cell in the body undergoes the same 24-hour cycles as we do. The circadian clock is found throughout the body and regulates the circadian rhythms of most biological functions, including metabolism. Because of these metabolic rhythms, scientists hypothesized that the way food is processed changes at different times of the day. This area of research is known as 'chronnutrition' and has great potential to improve human health.
Two 2013 studies found that eating more calories at the beginning of the day and fewer calories in the evening helps people lose weight. However, a new large study found that while the relative size of breakfast and dinner affects self-defined appetite, it has no effect on metabolism and weight loss. To investigate the relationship between breakfast and dinner size and their effect on hunger, a team of researchers from the universities of Aberdeen and Surrey conducted a controlled study of healthy overweight people.
Participants received two diets, each for four weeks: a large breakfast and a small lunch, and a small breakfast followed by a large dinner. The meals were the same. All meals were provided so that they knew exactly how many calories the study participants were consuming. The participants' metabolism was also measured, including the number of calories burned.
All study participants followed both diets so that the effects of the diet on the same people could be compared. A rich breakfast and a small supper were predicted to increase calories burned and weight loss. Instead, the results of the experiment showed no difference in body weight or any biological measures of energy use between the two eating patterns.
Energy expenditure measures included basal metabolic rate (the number of calories the body burns at rest), physical activity, and consumption of a chemical form of water which measures total daily energy expenditure. There were also no differences in daily blood glucose, insulin and lipid levels. This is important because changes in these factors in the blood are related to metabolic health.
These results are consistent with previous results from short-term (one to six days) feeding studies in which participants lived in a laboratory breathing chamber throughout the experiment. Taken together, these studies suggest that the way our bodies process calories in the morning and evening do not affect weight loss in the way that other studies have reported.
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