Varying Impacts of a Single Evening Meal on Metabolic Health and Physical Performance in Slender People

The majority of people spend between 12 and 16 hours a day in the postprandial state. Typically, three meals are consumed every 24 hours, plus between-meal snacks. Plasma insulin levels increase after a meal, which in turn causes peripheral tissues to absorb and oxidize more glucose. The activation of lipoprotein lipase by insulin also encourages the accumulation of dietary fat in adipose tissue. Lowering plasma insulin levels while fasting (overnight, for example) allows lipolysis, which causes a switch from glucose to fat oxidation and, if the fast is sustained, a physiological insulin resistance condition. Three meals are typically consumed every 24 hours, plus between-meal snacks. From an evolutionary perspective, one may argue that the human body is physically accustomed to fewer meals.

One meal per day reduces body fat

Alternate-day fasting, whole-day fasting, and time-restricted feeding (TRF) are the three types of intermittent fasting that are most frequently utilized. While the whole-day fasting technique involves one or two days of complete fasting per week and ad libitum feeding on the remaining days, alternate-day fasting incorporates alternating ad libitum feeding days and fasting days (associated with one small meal). TRF includes a wide range of tactics, but its essential component is the fusion of a constrained feeding window with “prolonged” fasting. The effects of TRF on metabolic markers and physical performance are limited and ambiguous due to the wide variety of TRF protocols used in studies (due to variations in meal timing and fasting duration, with or without calorie restriction). TRF may increase the body’s overall sensitivity to insulin, according to certain metabolic studies, however, other research found no effect or even reduced glucose tolerance. fascinatingly, in resistance-trained males, TRF (16/8) reduced fat mass without compromising strength.

A study evaluated the physiological effects of eucaloric TRF (22/2, one meal per day in the evening) in free-living healthy lean individuals compared to typical food intake (three meals per day) in a crossover design. This was done for 11 days. The research was carried out at the Norwegian School of Sports Sciences in Oslo, Norway, from September 2018 to December 2018. It was found that restricting the number of planned calorie meals to one per day in the evening reduced body fat and enhanced fatty acid oxidation during exercise without impairing strength or aerobic performance. Additionally, it was discovered that plasma glucose levels dropped in the afternoon.

Clinical significance

The one daily meal condition resulted in mean plasma glucose concentrations throughout the day, which may be beneficial for health. If these findings hold true for diabetic and dysglycemic patients, this will be especially relevant.

Conclusion

In a nutshell, it was discovered that having one evening meal per day reduces body weight and increases metabolic flexibility during exercise through higher fat oxidation. Future research should examine how TRF affects individuals with impaired metabolic flexibility, such as those with obesity, metabolic syndrome, or type 2 diabetes. Additionally, eating just one meal in the morning may have more impact.