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A person's cholesterol levels may depend
not only on what he or she eats, but also how often.
Researchers found that middle-aged and
older adults who ate frequently throughout the day had lower
"bad" cholesterol levels compared with those who
tended to down one or two large meals per day. This was despite
the fact that the frequent eaters, on average, had a higher
calorie and fat intake.
The researchers looked at data on more
than 14,600 men and women aged 45 to 75 who were part of a
larger cancer study. Participants were asked about their current
eating habits and activity levels, and had their cholesterol
levels, blood pressure and weight recorded.
The researchers found that participants'
total cholesterol counts
declined as their eating frequency increased. Those
who ate at least five or six times a day had the lowest total
cholesterol, on average, while the highest measurements were
found among those who dined only once or twice a day. The
same pattern showed up for LDL ("bad") cholesterol.
They found a decrease of approximately
5% in concentrations of total cholesterol and low density
lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol in men and women who eat six
or more times a day compared with those who eat once or twice
a day.
Frequent eaters did not, however, have
higher levels of "good" HDL cholesterol, which is
believed to help protect the heart from disease.
Yet the findings are biologically plausible.
Animal research has shown that those given infrequent large
meals show metabolism patterns different from animals fed
more often -- including a higher absorption of sugar in the
intestines, higher after-meal peaks of the sugar-regulating
hormone insulin, and greater activity in enzymes that synthesize
cholesterol.
As for humans it could also be that frequent
eaters metabolize what they eat rather differently than infrequent
eaters.
Despite the higher calorie and fat intake
among frequent eaters in this study, the findings do not give
people license to gorge on French fries.
The authors stressed that their data
do not provide evidence for advocating frequent snacking on
junk food. They advised that people who wish to hold down
their cholesterol levels should first and foremost eat more
fruits and vegetables and cut their saturated fat intake.
British
Medical Journal December 1, 2001;323:1286-1288
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