Understanding the influence of the snack definition on the association between snacking and obesity: a review

Small changes in meal patterns lead to significant changes in total caloric intake. Effects of diet and social status on food intake in female rhesus monkeys

Social subordination in macaques is a well-established model to study the adverse effects of psychosocial stress on a number of health outcomes, including stress-induced eating. The present analysis was conducted to empirically define a meal among free-feeding female rhesus monkeys and to examine the roles of meal patterning (e.g., meal size, meal frequency, and snacking patterns) in findings from a previous study demonstrating that psychosocial stress increases overall caloric intake among subordinate animals with access to a highly palatable diet. Results indicate that all animals, regardless of social status, consumed more frequent meals, larger meals, and more calories in the form of snacks when a highly palatable diet was available. Additional findings suggest that subordinate animals consumed significantly larger meals compared to their dominant counterparts regardless of the dietary environment. Additionally, subordinate females with a history of exposure to the palatable diet consumed significantly more snack calories than both dominant and subordinate animals without previous exposure to the palatable diet when these females were returned to a standard laboratory diet. These findings illustrate how small changes in meal patterns can lead to significant increases in total caloric intake, which if prolonged, could promote the emergence of an obese phenotype.

The effect of ready-to-eat cereal consumption on energy intake, body weight and anthropometric measurements: results from a randomized, controlled intervention trial

The objective of this work was to determine the effect of consumption of ready-to-eat cereal (RTEC) in the evening in place of a normal evening snack on body weight, anthropometric measurements and energy intake in overweight individuals. Seventy overweight participants who were self-reported habitual evening snackers were assigned to either the control or treatment group. For 6 weeks the treatment group consumed RTEC instead of their normal evening snack. Body weight, anthropometric and food intake measurements were taken at 2-week intervals. There were no significant differences between groups in any anthropometric measurements; however, within the treatment group, body weight (p = 0.030) and waist circumference (p = 0.0003) were reduced after 6 weeks compared with baseline. Evening energy intake was lower in the treatment group compared with the control group (p = 0.007). These data indicate that replacing evening snacks with RTEC in overweight habitual evening snackers significantly reduces post dinner energy intake and may assist with weight management.