title: Meal skipping linked to increased visceral adipose tissue and triglycerides in overweight minority youth.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the impact of eating frequency on dietary intake, physical activity (PA), metabolic, and adiposity measures in minority youth.
  
  
  METHODS
  This analysis included 185 overweight (≥85th BMI percentile) Hispanic and African-American youth (8-18 years) with the following cross-sectional measures: height, weight, BMI, dietary intake, body composition, metabolic parameters, PA, visceral adipose tissue (VAT), and subcutaneous adipose tissue. Each eating occasion (EO) was defined as ≥50 calories and ≥15 minutes from any previous EO. Participants were dichotomized based on EOs per 24-h into meal skippers <3 EO (MS; n = 27) or normal/frequent eaters ≥3 EO (NFE; n = 158). ANCOVAs were used to assess dietary intakes, metabolic outcomes, adiposity, and PA between eating frequency groups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  MS compared to NFE consumed 24% fewer calories per 24-h (P ≤ 0.01), 21% more calories per EO (P ≤ 0.01), ate 40% less often (P ≤ 0.01), had 18% higher triglycerides (P = 0.03), and 26% more VAT (P = 0.03), with no differences in PA.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although meal skipping was associated with decreased energy intake, it was linked to increased calories per EO and higher triglycerides and VAT, which are strong indicators of deleterious metabolic profiles. These findings elucidate that meal skipping may be associated with increased VAT and related metabolic diseases in high-risk minority youth.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Texas, Texas, USA.
authors.forename: Benjamin T
authors.initials: BT
authors.lastname: House
authors.forename: Lauren T
authors.initials: LT
authors.lastname: Cook
authors.forename: Lauren E
authors.initials: LE
authors.lastname: Gyllenhammer
authors.forename: Jeremy M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Schraw
authors.forename: Michael I
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Goran
authors.forename: Donna
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Spruijt-Metz
authors.forename: Marc J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Weigensberg
authors.forename: Jaimie N
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Davis
mesh_terms: D050154:Adiposity; D000293:Adolescent; D001741:Black or African American; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000378:metabolism; D001823:Body Composition; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001835:Body Weight; D002648:Child; D008076:Cholesterol, HDL / Q000097:blood; D008078:Cholesterol, LDL / Q000097:blood; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D002149:Energy Intake; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D006630:Hispanic or Latino; D006801:Humans; D007328:Insulin / Q000097:blood; D050152:Intra-Abdominal Fat / Q000503:physiopathology*; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D062407:Meals; D008913:Minority Groups; D009043:Motor Activity; D050177:Overweight / Q000453:epidemiology*; D014280:Triglycerides / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D001786:Blood Glucose; D008076:Cholesterol, HDL; D008078:Cholesterol, LDL; D007328:Insulin; D014280:Triglycerides