Eating 6 meals per day; not quite Broscience

Jiigzz

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Increased protein intake and meal frequency reduces abdominal fat during energy balance and energy deficit
Objective


Unrefined, complex carbohydrates and lean protein diets are used to combat obesity, although it's unknown whether more frequent meals may improve this response. The effects of consuming traditional (∼15%) versus higher (∼35%) protein intakes as three or six meals/day on abdominal fat, postprandial thermogenesis (TEM), and cardiometabolic biomarkers in overweight individuals during 28 days of energy balance (BAL) and deficit (NEG), respectively were compared.


Design and Methods


Overweight individuals (n = 30) were randomized into three groups: two high-protein groups (35% of energy) consumed as three (HP3) or six (HP6) meals/day and one group consumed three meals/day of a traditional intake (TD3). Following a 5-day baseline control (CON), subjects consumed their respective diets throughout a 56-day intervention consisting of two, 28 day phases: a BAL followed by a NEG phase (75% of energy needs). Total body fat (BF) and abdominal BF (ABF), body weight (BW), TEM, and fasting biomarkers were assessed at the end of CON, BAL, and NEG phases.


Results


BW remained stable throughout CON and BAL in all groups, whereas BF (P < 0.001) and ABF (P < 0.01) decreased in HP groups and lean body mass (LBM) and leptin increased in HP6. Following NEG, BW decreased in all groups. BF, ABF, and leptin decreased in HP groups; LBM remained higher (P < 0.05), and TEM was highest in HP6 (P < 0.05).


Conclusions


Consuming increased protein (∼35%) more frequently (6×) throughout the day decreases BF and ABF, increases LBM and TEM, and favorably affects adipokines more than current recommendations for macronutrients consumed over three meals/day in overweight individuals during both BAL and NEG.
 
SgtP

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Do you have a link to the actual study? Sounds like the conclusion is just comparing the high protein diet to the crappy American diet.

There are plenty of studies that show the lack of importance of spreading your meals out.
 
cumminslifter

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Do you have a link to the actual study? Sounds like the conclusion is just comparing the high protein diet to the crappy American diet.

There are plenty of studies that show the lack of importance of spreading your meals out.
we had a HUGE debate over this on BB.com...there were a lot of holes in the study
 
Jiigzz

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Do you have a link to the actual study? Sounds like the conclusion is just comparing the high protein diet to the crappy American diet.

There are plenty of studies that show the lack of importance of spreading your meals out.
we had a HUGE debate over this on BB.com...there were a lot of holes in the study
People will find whatever they can to try debunk a study and only adhere to studies that suit their partcicular mindset or predisposition. The study compared the same caloric meals spread out over either 3-6 meals and with one group acting as a control.

It would be hard to find a study that fits every single parameter you are looking for. Take from it as you will, just another perspective to throw continual spanners into the works
 
bdcc

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we had a HUGE debate over this on BB.com...there were a lot of holes in the study
What is the link to the BB.com discussion? I can't find it.
 
bla55

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Well, it's not about debunking to fit their opinion, it's all about seeing whether or not there are holes in it.

There have been some studies that show fasting is good, and there weren't many flaws in it. There have been studies with how many meals can affect you a day, etc. All in all, unless the study is good, it won't really give many answers, and in the end, it doesn't matter all that much, it is just what fits your lifestyle better and there is no cookie cutter approach.
 
cumminslifter

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Well, it's not about debunking to fit their opinion, it's all about seeing whether or not there are holes in it.

There have been some studies that show fasting is good, and there weren't many flaws in it. There have been studies with how many meals can affect you a day, etc. All in all, unless the study is good, it won't really give many answers, and in the end, it doesn't matter all that much, it is just what fits your lifestyle better and there is no cookie cutter approach.
this^almost every study out there has a study disproving what the other study proved
 
Jiigzz

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Well, it's not about debunking to fit their opinion, it's all about seeing whether or not there are holes in it.

There have been some studies that show fasting is good, and there weren't many flaws in it. There have been studies with how many meals can affect you a day, etc. All in all, unless the study is good, it won't really give many answers, and in the end, it doesn't matter all that much, it is just what fits your lifestyle better and there is no cookie cutter approach.
Curious as to what the "holes" are and why they affect the outcome of the study.

Considering that the n3 and the n6 had the same meals with the same percentage of protein just spread out over longer duration with a 'traditional diet' acting as a control @ 15% of intake as protein. Therefore the "flaws" between the n3 and the n6 have nothing to do with food choices
 
JudoJosh

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This was actually done pretty good. (Jiggz if you want the FT hit me up.)
 
Jiigzz

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Just eat clean, an when you're hungry problem solved. As long as you hit your cal/prp intake at the end of the day you're fine:)
 
bdcc

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I would like the full text please. :)
 
SgtP

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I'd like to see the full text also. Seems like the conclusion is comparing 6 meals with 35% protein to a standard crappy low protein diet. I've read it 100 times now. What am I missing.
 
bdcc

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There are two high protein groups, three groups in total.

35% protein spread over 3 meals per day vs 35% protein spread over 6 meals per day vs traditional diet.
 
JudoJosh

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I'd like to see the full text also. Seems like the conclusion is comparing 6 meals with 35% protein to a standard crappy low protein diet. I've read it 100 times now. What am I missing.
The third group.

There was a high protein (35%) group who had 3 meals a day
 
JudoJosh

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Stupid phone. I didnt see you posted that
 
EasyEJL

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I'd like to see how the bodyfat loss compared between the HP3 and HP6
 
JudoJosh

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I'd like to see how the bodyfat loss compared between the HP3 and HP6
Body fat (%)
CON (Day 0) - BAL (Day 29) - NEG (Day 57)
TD3 - 37.5 - 36.5 - 36.4
HP3 - 34.4 - 32.5 - 32.4
HP6 - 37.2 - 35.0 - 34.4
 
EasyEJL

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ah above it said "Overweight individuals" but those are on the edge of morbidly obese. Hmm. still interesting
 
pyrobatt

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I am a believer in eating many times a day. Mainly to keep you sane.

Protien carbs,fat whatever stays in your body long enough to process. The only problem with 1 meal a day is stomach issues and a large as hell insulin spike which will most likely store a good ammount as fat.

Smaller insulin spikes keep ya lean in my opinion. When I'm gaining I eat 6 to 8 meals/day. Cutting is a different story because insulin can inhibit fat burning. Bigger spikes,less time insulin is present. I'm not a scientist and this may be bro science but it works for me:)
 

PuZo

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I am a believer in eating many times a day. Mainly to keep you sane.

Protien carbs,fat whatever stays in your body long enough to process. The only problem with 1 meal a day is stomach issues and a large as hell insulin spike which will most likely store a good ammount as fat.

Smaller insulin spikes keep ya lean in my opinion. When I'm gaining I eat 6 to 8 meals/day. Cutting is a different story because insulin can inhibit fat burning. Bigger spikes,less time insulin is present. I'm not a scientist and this may be bro science but it works for me:)
If it works, it works :p
 
cumminslifter

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I am a believer in eating many times a day. Mainly to keep you sane.

Protien carbs,fat whatever stays in your body long enough to process. The only problem with 1 meal a day is stomach issues and a large as hell insulin spike which will most likely store a good ammount as fat.

Smaller insulin spikes keep ya lean in my opinion. When I'm gaining I eat 6 to 8 meals/day. Cutting is a different story because insulin can inhibit fat burning. Bigger spikes,less time insulin is present. I'm not a scientist and this may be bro science but it works for me:)
do you plan on not eating at all?
 
pyrobatt

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bla55

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Curious as to what the "holes" are and why they affect the outcome of the study.

Considering that the n3 and the n6 had the same meals with the same percentage of protein just spread out over longer duration with a 'traditional diet' acting as a control @ 15% of intake as protein. Therefore the "flaws" between the n3 and the n6 have nothing to do with food choices
True, but there are so many holes that can be hypothesized over here...

How were the meals done? What was the macro of each meal? When was the workout taking place? Was the caloric intake also the same? Food choices? GI indexes?

For instance; the N6 group, if they were to workout at 3PM, and at 5PM they had a meal, whereas the N3 also worked out at 3PM but didn't eat until 8PM, couldn't you see cause for disparity on their muscle gain?

6 Meals a day, say we are consuming slow digesting carbs. They would be spread out through the day, so by the end of the day, say 8PM, they were only consuming 1/6 of their carbs before bed, whereas the N3 would be consuming 1/3. Could also see a cause for disparity.

It's not just the amount of meals that we should focus on, but how they are spread and how it correlates to nutrition timing in regards to workout.

Edit: Oh, and nevermind... we are talking about morbidly obese people here almost... a completely different animal (no pun intended, although kinda funny) and I'm assuming there was little workout involved and merely the diet alone, which would then make sense as they are keeping levels low throughout the day and it doesn't matter if they are trying to have some nutrition timing down.
 
mikeg313

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There's always studies and articles that support and blast this stuff. All i know is when I have a clean diet that's high protein/low carb and eat 6 meals a day ( 3- whole foods ,3- protein shakes with snack i.e Fruit and PB) I look , feel and perform better, and gain lean mass better then when I don't.
 
JudoJosh

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bla55 have you read the text? Most of your "holes" are either accounted for in the study or arent holes at all.

It os easy to say they didnt do or did something wrong. Instead of just randomly claiming "holes" why not come up with reasoning as to why this woyld cause a significant impact on the results. How much of a difference would these "holes" make and why.
 
bla55

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I have not seen a link to the actual study yet to read it, so no, I was hypothesizing
 

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