Hormonal
Reducing meal frequency to 1-2 meals per day with a prolonged overnight fast (Time-Restricted Feeding) improves metabolic health, reduces inflammation, and lowers disease risk compared to higher meal frequencies (≥6 meals/day).
Try eating your meals within a 6-8 hour window each day, aiming for 1-2 main meals. Prioritize eating your largest meal earlier in the day (breakfast/lunch) and avoid late-night eating. This approach may reduce inflammation and improve metabolic health more effectively than eating 5-6 small meals, without needing to count calories.
A regular meal pattern including breakfast consumption, consuming a higher proportion of energy early in the day, reduced meal frequency (i.e., 2–3 meals/day), and regular fasting periods may provide physiological benefits such as reduced inflammation, improved circadian rhythmicity, increased autophagy and stress resistance, and modulation of the gut microbiota
Why this rating
The paper is a review citing conflicting epidemiological data and some intervention studies, but notes 'conflicting results' in experimental trials.
Source
The Influence of Meal Frequency and Timing on Health in Humans: The Role of Fasting
Antonio Paoli et al. · Nutrients · 2019
DOI 10.3390/nu11040719
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