5 Meals A Day Keep Teen Obesity at Bay - Study

Researchers suggest that teens can avoid obesity by consuming five meals a day.

This finding was made by researchers from the University of Eastern Finland. A 16-year-long study was conducted on more than 4000 Finnish teens, which began prenatally till they turned 16. They tried linking food consumption and disease occurrence. They analyzed early-life risk factors for obesity and metabolic syndrome.

The girls and boys, who were a part of this study, followed a diet plan consisting of five meals, which were breakfast, lunch, dinner and two snacks.

It was observed that following this five-meal diet led to reduction in belly fat and cut the risk of being obese and overweight. It was also found that skipping breakfast increased the BMI (body mass index) and waist size of the children.

"These findings emphasise the importance of taking an early whole-family approach to childhood obesity prevention. Furthermore, it is important to be aware that the effects of predisposing genotypes can be modified by lifestyle habits such as regular meal frequency," Anne Jaaskelainen, MHSc, who presented the results in her doctoral thesis at the University of Eastern Finland, said in a press release.

Increased waist size can lead to metabolic syndrome and makes people more prone to obesity.

This study also found that the offspring is more prone to obesity if the mother's weight increases above 7 kilograms during the first 20 weeks of pregnancy. The research brought forward that even paternal obesity prior to pregnancy increased the risk of obesity for the offspring. Teens having both parents with BMI of 25 or above were also at a higher risk of being obese and overweight.