The Effect of Meal Frequency on Body Composition

[jong_1]

http://strengthmill.net/forum/showthread.php?t=2367 - I caught this post at the StrengthMill forums. If Will Brink has the time, I hope he can add his commentary/thoughts. My primary question is if Will can verify similar observations as those observed below, i.e. you don't have to continually graze throughout the day/night to gain lean body mass. It would also be interesting to know the actual meal(s) composition.

https://ecss2007.cc.jyu.fi/schedule/proceedings/pdf/1796.pdf

THE EFFECT OF MEAL FREQUENCY ON BODY COMPOSITION DURING 12-WEEKS OF STRENGTH TRAINING

Hansen Øyvind1, Fostervold Mathisen Therese2, Raastad Truls 2
(Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, University of Oslo1, Norwegian School of Sport Sciences2, Norway)

Human trials on the effect of meal frequency on body composition are scarce. Short-term studies show increased rate of protein synthesis immediately after intake of amino acids [1], and frequent meals are shown to aid in the preservation of lean body mass when dieting [2].

Consequently it could be hypothesised that in response to strength training, more frequent meals will give larger muscle mass accumulation and lower fat mass (FM) than fewer meals.

The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of 3 vs. 6 meals per day on changes in body composition in young men and women performing strength training over 12 weeks.

Men (n=33) and women (n=15) aged 21 to 35 with at least one year of previous strength training experience were randomly assigned to either a 6 meals a day group or a 3 meals a day group. The prescribed total dietary intake in both groups was equal and calculated to give a positive energy balance of approximately 1200 KJ/day, a protein intake of 1.5-1.7 g/kg/day and a carbohydrate intake of 5-7 g/kg/day. During the training period the dietary intake was controlled by repeated 24-hours recalls.

All participants performed the same strength training program, training four times per week, giving each muscle group one heavy session and one light session per week. In the heavy sessions, training intensity varied between 10 and 3 RM sets, and 3-6 sets were performed in each exercise. Determination of body composition was performed with DEXA at the beginning of and immediately after the training period.

A total of 16 men and 11 women completed the project.

After multiple regression analysis the 3 meal group had a significant greater gain in lean body mass (LBM) than the 6 meal group when adjusted for gender and energy intake (p=0.04), when adjusted for gender and protein intake (p=0.03), and when adjusted for gender, protein intake, carbohydrate intake and fat intake* (p=0.01). (*: Fat intake in g/kg body weight/day showed significance on LBM, p=0.03). No significant differences in regional changes in LBM were observed, although there was a tendency towards a greater gain in the three meal group.

There were no significant differences in change in fat mass (FM) between the groups, but a tendency towards a greater gain in the three meal group, 7.33% (-5.23, 19.90), p=0.24. The three meal group had a 2.87% (0.62, 5.12) larger weight gain than the six meal group, p=0.01. The participants had a 2.31% (0.83, 3.79), gain in bone mineral density of the spine during the twelve weeks of strength training, p<0.01, but there were no differences between the groups.

In this study, three meals per day resulted in larger muscle gain from strength training than six meals per day over a period of twelve weeks.

The reason why 3 meals a day was superior to 6 meals a day in this study needs further investigation. More long-term studies are needed to determine the optimal meal frequency for gain in LBM from strength training.

References:
[1]. Rennie, MJ., Bohe, J., Wolfe, RR. Latency, duration and dose response relationships of amino acid effects on human muscle protein synthesis. J Nutr 132(10):3225S-7S, 2002.
[2]. Iwao, S., Mori, K., Sato, Y. Effects of meal frequency on body composition during weight control in boxers. Scan J Med Sci Sports 6:265-272, 1996
Keywords: Strength Training, Body Composition, Nutrition 12th Annual Congress of the ECSS, 11–14 July 2007, Jyväskylä, Finland

[www.BrinkZone.com]

http://strengthmill.net/forum/showthread.php?t=2367 - I caught this post at the StrengthMill forums. If Will Brink has the time, I hope he can add his commentary/thoughts. My primary question is if Will can verify similar observations as those observed below, i.e. you don't have to continually graze throughout the day/night to gain lean body mass. It would also be interesting to know the actual meal(s) composition.

Without actually seeing the entire study, it's hard to comment in any depth. I don't put much stock in it and it set's off my BS meter. For example, the were given an 1200 kJ is equivalent to an increase of less than 300 cals (287) regardless of bodyweight it appears. And that's going to cause an increase in LBM, and that difference will be significant between 3 meals vs 6? Sorry, I aint buying what they are selling.

In the real world,  plenty of people have made progress eating 3 times per day, but this study does little to really answer the question of 3 vs 6 meals at this time.

[rccs]

That's funny to see this here... When I was eating 5-6 times a day I actually lost some weight and didn't have that much of strength gains and I was always starving... Surprisely when I started to eat only 3 meals a day (because of my work) I noticed a bodyweight increase and guess what, it started to get harder to lose weight when sometimes I behaved badly (going out at night, some drinks, etc) which made me very happy. When someone eats only 3 times per day, meal have to be massive, in order to get enough calories and protein to sustain your metabolism for 5 or 6 hours and I think that here is the key. Eating less times but bigger amounts of food turns your body to a better anabolic state

[GetBigOrDieTrying]

Thought you guys might find this of intrest. Its very topical , I find it very intresting as it goes against everything ive been taught and understand. Ive been eating 4 Large meals a day for the last 3 weeks. Want to follow it for a while longer to see how it goes. It takes some adjusting but I can say that im never hungry eating larger meals less frequently. With smaller meals 6-8  im constantly hungry and always feel I can eat more.


Meal frequency and energy balance.

Bellisle F, McDevitt R, Prentice AM.
INSERM U341, Hotel Dieu de Paris, France.
Several epidemiological studies have observed an inverse relationship between people's habitual frequency of eating and body weight, leading to the suggestion that a 'nibbling' meal pattern may help in the avoidance of obesity. A review of all pertinent studies shows that, although many fail to find any significant relationship, the relationship is consistently inverse in those that do observe a relationship. However, this finding is highly vulnerable to the probable confounding effects of post hoc changes in dietary patterns as a consequence of weight gain and to dietary under-reporting which undoubtedly invalidates some of the studies. We conclude that the epidemiological evidence is at best very weak, and almost certainly represents an artefact. A detailed review of the possible mechanistic explanations for a metabolic advantage of nibbling meal patterns failed to reveal significant benefits in respect of energy expenditure. Although some short-term studies suggest that the thermic effect of feeding is higher when an isoenergetic test load is divided into multiple small meals, other studies refute this, and most are neutral. More importantly, studies using whole-body calorimetry and doubly-labelled water to assess total 24 h energy expenditure find no difference between nibbling and gorging. Finally, with the exception of a single study, there is no evidence that weight loss on hypoenergetic regimens is altered by meal frequency. We conclude that any effects of meal pattern on the regulation of body weight are likely to be mediated through effects on the food intake side of the energy balance equation.
 

Meal frequency may be one of the more hotly debated areas of nutrition these days. While it's always been current dogma (and in earlier versions of this article, I basically reiterated that dogma) that you must eat 6 times per day or more, more recent research has called that into question. Recent work into caloric restriction and intermitten fasting suggests that lower meal frequencies may have additional benefits. Some people are even fasting for many hours per day prior to food consumption with many claimed benefits (such as improved insulin sensitivity, calorie partitioning and fat loss). This is an area that requires another full article to cover in detail.

As I've discussed at some point in most of my books, there are more factors which go into choosing meal frequency than any absolute statement can cover. How many calories per day someone is consuming, along with several otehr variables all interact here. A small female consuming 1500 calories per day may prefer to eat fewer smaller meals whereas alarge male bodybuilder seeking mass gains (who may be consuming 3000-4000 calories/day or more) may need to eat 6 times per day to get in the required food.

As I discuss in detail in The Protein Book, any given meal will maintain the body in an anabolic state for somewhere between 4-6 hours depending on its composition and form. The idea that you have to eat every 3 hours or your muscles will fall off, or you'll go into starvation mode is simply nonsense. Higher meal frequencies have been found to improve various aspects of health (notably glucose tolerance and blood cholesterol) but many of these studies use a very unrealistic feeding pattern (e.g. 17 meal/day compared to 3). Whether 6 meals per day has a true benefit over 3 meals per day in terms of health is masively debatable.

But since this article is about a baseline diet for bodybuilders, who typically have a fairly high daily caloric intake, a higher meal frequency is probably still going to be preferred. Just realize that it isn't absolutely mandatory. As long as you're eating every 3-5 hours (assuming large-ish solid meals), you'll remain in an an anabolic state. Obsessing that it's been 2.5 hours since your last feeding is simply silly.