Should we 'eat breakfast like a king and dinner like a pauper'?

Conclusion This study gives a fascinating overview of the different ways people from different cultures eat. It also includes interesting historical information – for example, breakfast was considered sinful in medieval England, while 10th-century Middle Eastern doctors recommended eating two meals a day, before dawn and at dusk. But what it cannot do is tell us which eating patterns are healthiest to provide the best energy intake distribution throughout the day for our modern lives. The evidence linking obesity with evening energy intake is interesting, but there is not enough good-quality data to rely on this finding. Also, confounding health and lifestyle factors could contribute to this link – for example, people who eat less in the evening might do so because they are out at the gym, rather than sitting in front of the television. The paper also points to the cultural context of eating as being likely to affect when we eat, as well as what we eat. For example, in France – where lunch is the biggest meal of the day – people are more likely to sit down to a full meal at lunchtime, perhaps in family groups. In the UK, food consumption is more individual and informal – perhaps a sandwich and bag of crisps at the desk at lunchtime, or an evening takeaway. A second study in the same publication found eating irregularly, rather than at regular meal times, may be linked to the chances of getting diabetes. We were unable to see the full study, so we canno...
Source: NHS News Feed - Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Food/diet Lifestyle/exercise Obesity Source Type: news