Research

Energy balance

For patients with type 2 diabetes, consuming a hypoenergetic diet as two larger meals (breakfast and lunch) yields superior reductions in body weight, hepatic fat content, fasting glucose, and insulin resistance compared to consuming the same caloric restriction across six smaller meals.

If you have type 2 diabetes, try eating all your daily calories in just two meals: a substantial breakfast and lunch. Stop eating by mid-afternoon. This approach, even with the same total calories as eating six small meals, leads to greater weight loss, less liver fat, and better blood sugar control. Skip the snacks.

GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
Eating only breakfast and lunch reduced body weight, HFC, fasting plasma glucose, C-peptide and glucagon, and increased OGIS, more than the same caloric restriction split into six meals.
Hana Kahleová et al. · Diabetologia · 2014

Why this rating

Randomized crossover design with a moderate sample size (n=54) and rigorous metabolic measurements (clamps, MR spectroscopy), though limited by short duration (12 weeks per arm).

Source

Eating two larger meals a day (breakfast and lunch) is more effective than six smaller meals in a reduced-energy regimen for patients with type 2 diabetes: a randomised crossover study

Hana Kahleová et al. · Diabetologia · 2014

DOI 10.1007/s00125-014-3253-5

crossover · n=54Cited 218×
Read the paper
DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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