Increased eating frequency linked to decreased obesity and improved metabolic outcomes

• Published in: International Journal of Obesity 2015-01, Vol.39 (1), p.136-141
• Main Authors: House, B T, Shearrer, G E, Miller, S J, Pasch, K E, Goran, M I, Davis, J N
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 631/443/319/1488; 692/699/2743/393; Adipose tissue; Adolescent; Adolescent Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; Beta cells; Blood Glucose - metabolism; Body Composition; Body fat; Body Mass Index; Body size; Body weight; Calories; Child; Child Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; Children & youth; Covariance; Diabetes; Diet; Diet Records; Dietary intake; Disease control; Dual energy X-ray absorptiometry; Eating; Energy Intake; Epidemiology; Evaluation; Fasting - metabolism; Feeding Behavior - psychology; Female; Food habits; Food intake; Glucose; Glucose tolerance; Glucose Tolerance Test; Health aspects; Health behavior; Health Promotion and Disease Prevention; Health risks; Hispanic Americans; Hispanic Americans - statistics & numerical data; Humans; Insulin; Insulin resistance; Internal Medicine; Intravenous administration; Latin Americans; Lipids; Lipids - blood; Longitudinal Studies; Male; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Metabolic Diseases; Metabolic disorders; Minority & ethnic groups; Minority Groups - statistics & numerical data; Obesity; original-article; Overweight; Pediatric Obesity - epidemiology; Pediatric Obesity - metabolism; Pediatric Obesity - physiopathology; Pediatrics; Public Health; Risk factors; Teenagers; Triglycerides; Triglycerides - metabolism; Waist Circumference
• ISSN: 0307-0565; 1476-5497
• DOI: 10.1038/ijo.2014.81

Background: We previously reported that more frequent eating in overweight minority youth was linked to lower visceral adiposity and circulating triglycerides. The aim of this study was to examine this issue in more detail by assessing the relationship between eating frequency and adiposity and metabolic disease risk in a cohort of exclusively overweight Hispanic youth. Methods: This analysis included 191 overweight (⩾85th percentile body mass index (BMI)) Hispanic youth (8–18 years) with the following cross-sectional measures: height, weight, BMI, dietary intake via multiple 24 h recalls, body composition via dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry, lipids and insulin action (insulin sensitivity, acute insulin response (AIR) and disposition index, a measure of β-cell function) via a frequently sampled intravenous glucose tolerance test. Each eating occasion (EO) was defined as ⩾50 calories and ⩾15 min from any prior EO. Infrequent eaters (IEs) were classified as any subject who ate