2-meal a day \\\'can treat diabetes\\\'

Only eating breakfast and lunch may be more effective at managing type 2 diabetes than eating smaller, more regular meals, scientists say. Researchers in Prague fed two groups of 27 people the same calorie diet spread over 2 or 6 meals a day. They found volunteers who ate 2 meals a day lost more weight than those who ate 6, and their blood sugar dropped. Experts said the study supported ‘existing evidence’ that fewer, larger meals were the way forward.

Timing important?

Type 2 diabetes occurs when the body does not produce enough of the hormone insulin, which controls the amount of sugar in the blood, meaning blood sugar levels become too high. If untreated, it can lead to heart disease and stroke, nerve damage, light-sensitive eyes and kidney disease. About 2.9 million people in the UK are affected by diabetes, 90% of whom have the type 2 form of the disease. Current advice in the UK recommends 3 meals a day, with healthy snacks. Scientists at the Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine in Prague divided a group of 54 volunteers aged 30 to 70 with type 2 diabetes into two groups of 27 people. Volunteers were then given either a 6-meal-a-day diet (A6) for 12 weeks followed by a 2-meal day diet (B2), or vice versa. The study compared 2-meal with 6-meal – as the latter accorded with current practice advice in the Czech Republic, researchers said. Each diet contained on average 1,700 calories a day. The B2 group ate between 06:00 and 10:00 and then between 12:00 and 16:00, and the A6 group ate their food throughout the day. Weight loss for the B2 group averaged 1.4kg (3lb) more than A6, and they lost about 4cm (1.5in) more from their waistlines, according to BBC.