SynthesisAdvances in nutrition (Bethesda, Md.)2020
Impact of Meal Frequency on Anthropometric Outcomes: A Systematic Review and Network Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.
Synthesis in Advances in nutrition (Bethesda, Md.), 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 39 citations in OpenAlex.
- Temporal Eating Patterns and Colorectal Cancer: A Systematic Review.Current nutrition reports · 2025Pooled it
- Meal Timing and Anthropometric and Metabolic Outcomes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.JAMA network open · 2024Pooled it
- No Effect of High Eating Frequency Compared with Low Eating Frequency on Appetite and Inflammation Biomarkers: Results from a Randomized Crossover Clinical Trial.The Journal of nutrition · 2024Trial
- Beyond calories: the effect of meal patterns on obesity risk in the IRanian National Obesity Registry.Journal of cardiovascular and thoracic research · 2026Article
- Triglyceride Accumulation in Adipocytes Modulated by Insulin Dynamics.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Article
- Mediating effects of waist circumference and BMI on the association between meal frequency and mortality.Public health nutrition · 2025Article
- Investigating eating architecture and the impact of the precision of recorded eating time: a cross-sectional study.The American journal of clinical nutrition · 2025Article
- How do network meta-analyses address intransitivity when assessing certainty of evidence: a systematic survey.BMJ open · 2023Article
- Meal Frequency and Multi-Morbidity in a Cypriot Population: A Cross-Sectional Study.Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Meal-timing patterns and chronic disease prevalence in two representative Austrian studies.European journal of nutrition · 2023Article
- Effect of lunch with different calorie and nutrient balances on dinner-induced postprandial glucose variability.Nutrition & metabolism · 2022Article
- Ten things to know about ten cardiovascular disease risk factors - 2022.American journal of preventive cardiology · 2022Review
- Article
- Letter to the Editor on "Comparing the Effects of Docosahexaenoic and Eicosapentaenoic Acids on Inflammation Markers Using Pairwise and Network Meta-Analyses of Randomized Controlled Trials".Advances in nutrition (Bethesda, Md.) · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The relation between meal frequency and measures of obesity is inconclusive. Therefore, this systematic review and network meta-analysis (NMA) set out to compare the isocaloric effects of different meal frequencies on anthropometric outcomes and energy intake (EI). A systematic literature search was conducted in 3 electronic databases (Medline, Cochrane Library, Web of Science; search date, 11 March 2019). Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were included with ≥2 wk intervention duration comparing any 2 of the eligible isocaloric meal frequencies (i.e., 1 to ≥8 meals/d). Random-effects NMA was performed for 4 outcomes [body weight (BW), waist circumference (WC), fat mass (FM), and EI], and surface under the cumulative ranking curve (SUCRA) was estimated using a frequentist approach (P-score: value is between 0 and 1). Twenty-two RCTs with 647 participants were included. Our results suggest that 2 meals/d probably slightly reduces BW compared with 3 meals/d [mean difference (MD): -1.02 kg; 95% CI: -1.70, -0.35 kg) or 6 meals/d (MD: -1.29 kg; 95% CI: -1.74, -0.84 kg; moderate certainty of evidence). We are uncertain whether 1 or 2 meals/d reduces BW compared with ≥8 meals/d (MD1 meal/d vs. ≥8 meals/d: -2.25 kg; 95% CI: -5.13, 0.63 kg; MD2 meals/d vs. ≥8 meals/d: -1.32 kg; 95% CI: -2.19, -0.45 kg) and whether 1 meal/d probably reduces FM compared with 3 meals/d (MD: -1.84 kg; 95% CI: -3.72, 0.05 kg; very low certainty of evidence). Two meals per day compared with 6 meals/d probably reduce WC (MD: -3.77 cm; 95% CI: -4.68, -2.86 cm; moderate certainty of evidence). One meal per day was ranked as the best frequency for reducing BW (P-score: 0.81), followed by 2 meals/d (P-score: 0.74), whereas 2 meals/d performed best for WC (P-score: 0.96). EI was not affected by meal frequency. In conclusion, our findings indicate that there is little robust evidence that reducing meal frequency is beneficial.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.