Drummond S, Crombie N, Kirk T
Centre For Food Research (CFR), Queen Margaret College, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK.
Eur J Clin Nutr. 1996 Dec;50(12):779-83.
Increasingly Western populations appear to be moving away from the 'gorging' to the 'nibbling' pattern of eating, probably as a direct result of the increased availability of snack foods and snacks. There have been many individual suggestions for the definition of a 'snack', each one based on different parameters of measurement (Rotenburg, 1981; Bernstein et al, 1981; De Castro, 1993). However, no one definition has been universally accepted in the scientific literature due to the problems inherent in individual perception of what constitutes a 'snack' as opposed to a 'meal'. For the purposes of this review, however, a snack is defined as 'any food taken outwith a regular mealtime (namely breakfast, lunch and dinner) or snack item taken in place of such meal.' Snacking is commonly regarded by the general public as predisposing to overweight and obesity, believing that it is more beneficial to adhere to an eating pattern of three meals a day. Thus, in this context, many weight reduction programmes include avoidance of snacks, reducing the frequency of eating occasions to two to three times a day. Indeed one hypothesis, the Booth hypothesis (Booth, 1988), suggests that this growing trend for snacking is a major factor in the aetiology of obesity. However, there is evidence to suggest that snacking, per se, may not necessarily predispose to overweight and that those individuals who snack throughout the day may have positive advantages, in terms of body weight control, over those conforming to a rigid pattern of three meals a day. This paper reviews the literature in the area of eating frequency with respect to energy balance and body weight control and suggests some directions for further research.
西方人群似乎越来越多地从“狼吞虎咽”的饮食模式转向“小口吃”的模式，这可能是休闲食品和零食供应增加的直接结果。关于“零食”的定义有很多个人观点，每个观点都基于不同的衡量参数（罗滕堡，1981年；伯恩斯坦等人，1981年；德卡斯特罗，1993年）。然而，由于在个人对什么构成“零食”而非“正餐”的认知中存在固有问题，科学文献中尚未有一个被普遍接受的定义。然而，就本综述而言，零食被定义为“在常规用餐时间（即早餐、午餐和晚餐）之外食用的任何食物，或替代此类餐食的零食”。一般公众普遍认为吃零食易导致超重和肥胖，认为坚持一日三餐的饮食模式更有益。因此，在这种情况下，许多减肥计划包括避免吃零食，将进食次数减少到每天两到三次。事实上，有一种假设，即布斯假设（布斯，1988年），表明这种日益增长的吃零食趋势是肥胖病因的一个主要因素。然而，有证据表明，吃零食本身不一定会导致超重，而且那些整天吃零食的人在体重控制方面可能比那些严格遵循一日三餐模式的人有积极优势。本文综述了饮食频率在能量平衡和体重控制方面的文献，并提出了一些进一步研究的方向。
