Teenagers who have snacks throughout the day are less likely to be overweight or obese than their peers who limit themselves to larger meals.
Teenagers who have snacks throughout the day are less likely to be overweight or obese than their peers who limit themselves to larger meals.
Some studies have linked snacking to lower body weight, while others have not. And while there is some evidence of metabolic benefits in having more-frequent, smaller meals throughout the day - in managing cholesterol levels and diabetes, it is not clear whether such eating patterns help prevent weight gain or promote weight loss. To examine the associations between snacking and weight gain among American adolescents, researchers followed 5811 children, aged 12 to 18 years old.
Of teens who said they did not snack, 40 percent were overweight or obese; that compared with rates of 30 percent, 28 percent and 22 percent among their peers who consumed two, three or four or more snacks in a day, respectively. Similarly, the rate of abdominal obesity was 24 percent among non-snacking teens, while the lowest rate - 11 percent - was seen in the four-snack-a-day group.
When the researchers accounted for a number of other factors - including exercise habits (active teens may need more snacks for energy), time spent in front of the TV or computer, ethnicity and family income - snacking itself remained linked to a lower risk of being overweight or obese.
Teenagers who reported having four or more snacks in a day were 60 percent less likely to overweight or obese, and similarly less likely to have abdominal obesity, than their peers who reported no snacking. The researchers also looked at whether the teens had been trying to lose weight as people trying to shed pounds might cut out snacks, and that could account for the higher rate of obesity among non-snackers. But weight-loss attempts did not explain the connection between teenagers' more-frequent snacking and a lower risk of excess pounds.
The findings do not prove that snacking itself helps kids control their weight but do add to a conflicting body of research on whether snacking is good or bad for the waistline.
Some studies have linked snacking to lower body weight, while others have not. And while there is some evidence of metabolic benefits in having more-frequent, smaller meals throughout the day - in managing cholesterol levels and diabetes, it is not clear whether such eating patterns help prevent weight gain or promote weight loss. To examine the associations between snacking and weight gain among American adolescents, researchers followed 5811 children, aged 12 to 18 years old.
Of teens who said they did not snack, 40 percent were overweight or obese; that compared with rates of 30 percent, 28 percent and 22 percent among their peers who consumed two, three or four or more snacks in a day, respectively. Similarly, the rate of abdominal obesity was 24 percent among non-snacking teens, while the lowest rate - 11 percent - was seen in the four-snack-a-day group.
When the researchers accounted for a number of other factors - including exercise habits (active teens may need more snacks for energy), time spent in front of the TV or computer, ethnicity and family income - snacking itself remained linked to a lower risk of being overweight or obese.
Teenagers who reported having four or more snacks in a day were 60 percent less likely to overweight or obese, and similarly less likely to have abdominal obesity, than their peers who reported no snacking. The researchers also looked at whether the teens had been trying to lose weight as people trying to shed pounds might cut out snacks, and that could account for the higher rate of obesity among non-snackers. But weight-loss attempts did not explain the connection between teenagers' more-frequent snacking and a lower risk of excess pounds.
The findings do not prove that snacking itself helps kids control their weight but do add to a conflicting body of research on whether snacking is good or bad for the waistline.
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