Nibbling Versus
Gorging: Prolonged Carbohydrate Absorption
by Tanya
Zilberter, PhD
"Recently, the health benefits
of so-called " nibbling versus gorging" phenomenon,
when starchy meals are eaten frequently but in smaller amounts, is
broadly
discussed."
The beneficial effects of prolonged carbohydrate
absorption are observed even with the same carbohydrate form: since
1930s, it is well known to diabetics and their doctors that when
glucose is sipped slowly rather than gulped, less
insulin is needed to control blood glucose concentrations.
Effects of Meal Frequency Increase
An average American eats an average 3.12 meals a
day. Is it enough?
How does meal timing affect one's body weight and general health? How
does
it influence one's appetite and muscle mass?
Ever thought what makes you start and finish
eating? Right, hunger makes
you start and feeling full makes you stop. But how about breakfast?
They
say it's the most important part of your meal plan and you eat it just
for
the sake of it. How about snacking, should you have snacks? How often?
Don't
we take for granted that skipping breakfasts and having two square
meals
a day is bad for you? Bad for what exactly? Let's see if there's any
rationale
behind.
Studies have demonstrated that a good breakfast is
usually associated
with an improvement in mental tasks performance later in the morning,
while
lunch does exactly the opposite, plus it has rather negative effects on
mood.
Late in the afternoon, meals appear to have a positive effect on tasks
involving
sustained attention or memory. (British Journal of Nutrition. 77 Suppl
1:S105-18,
1997)
Recently, researchers in Johannesburg, South
Africa, reported that frequent
meals reduced appetite by 27%! This is how they figured it out. One
group
of healthy overweight men had a big breakfast, then next meal only
after
5 hours when they had nothing to eat. Another group ate the same amount
of
same food but divided in 5 hourly meals. Guess who ate more when after
these
5 hours they had an "all you can eat" meal? Yes, the gorgers did.
What's
more, compared to them, the nibblers had much more favorable insulin
and
blood glucose profiles. (International Journal of Obesity & Related
Metabolic
Disorders. 23(11):1151-9, 1999).
These favorable blood readings can explain the
fact that more frequent
meals can be protective against cardiovascular diseases. For example,
in
the Department of Vascular Surgery, Charing Cross Hospital, London,
doctors
investigated how habitual meal frequency influenced atherosclerosis.
After
they made the necessary adjustment for 120 patients' age, sex, smoking,
diabetes,
blood pressure, and body mass index, the odds for peripheral arterial
disease
among those eating between meals (grazing) compared with those who did
not,
was 1:2. (Journal of Cardiovascular Risk. 6(1):19-22, 1999)
Now, how about weight loss? Scandinavian
researchers reported that competitive boxers who tried to lose weight
by reducing their calorie intake, lost same amount of body weight, but
it was mostly lean body mass loss in those who had their ration in two
square meals compared with those who had 6 meals a
day. (Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports.
6(5):265-72, 1996)
To tell you the truth, while dieticians and
nutritionists seem to adopt
the "nibbling versus gorging" model of daily meal planning, not all
doctors
agree with it. Many diet reviewers concluded that there's no sufficient
long
term studies proving the benefits of "nibbling". For example, Nutrition
Research
Group, University of Surrey, UK, did not confirm that nibbling is
beneficial
in reducing the concentrations of lipid and hormones on the long run.
(European
Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 50(8):491-7, 1996).
There can more to this if we look into cancer
risks studies. There are
many clinical reports about higher risk of many cancers of stomach and
intestines
in people who are used to eat more meals during the day for many years.
For
example, a higher daily meal frequency was responsible for 13% of 3350
cases
of colorectal cancer in Northern Italy, as reported by National Tumor
Institute,
Milan, Italy.
It is interesting, that intake of more than two
cups of coffee a day had
a protective effect against cancer (Nutrition & Cancer.
30(3):182-5,
1998) thus providing a simple measure to counterpart the negative
effect
while keeping the possible benefits of frequent meals.
The benefits
of carbohydrate control by reducing portion and increasing frequencies
of
meals.
| Lower total
cholesterol levels in clinical experiments
Lower total cholesterol levels in
population studies
Cholesterol synthesis was reduced
Low-density lipoprotein (ldl) cholesterol
("bad" cholesterol) reduction
Lower levels of apolipoprotein b ("very
bad" stuff)
Reduced insulin secretion
The lower insulin levels
Depressed glucose levels
Increased bile acid secretion
Suppressed free fatty acids levels
Reduced serum uric acid levels (risk factor
for coronary heart
disease)
Increased urinary uric acid excretion
Reduced adipose tissue enzyme levels
Reduced fluctuations in satiety
Sources
Bertelsen J, Christiansen C, Thomsen C
et al. (1993) Effect
of meal frequency on blood glucose, insulin, and free fatty acids in
NIDDM
subjects. Diabetes Care 16:3-7.
Jenkins DJA, Wolever TMS, Taylor RH et
al. (1980) Rate of
digestion of foods and post-prandial glycaemia in normal and diabetic
subjects.
British Medical Journal 2:14-17.
Jenkins DJA, Wolever TMS, Ocana AM,
Vuksan V, Cunanne SC
and Jenkins MJA (1990) Metabolic effects of reducing rate of glucose
ingestion
by single bolus versus continuous sipping. Diabetes 39:775-781.
Jones PJH, Leitch CA and Pederson RA
(1993) Meal frequency
effects of plasma hormone concentrations and cholesterol synthesis in
humans.
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 57:868-874.
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