Effects of Gormandizing and Semicontinuous Eating of Equicaloric Amounts of Formula-Type High Fat Diets on Plasma Cholesterol and Triglyceride Levels in Human Volunteer Subjects

Abstract

The effects of gormandizing and semicontinuous eating were studied at comparable levels of dietary intake in thirty-nine young healthy male subjects, using two types of homogenized formula diets providing 45 per cent of calories in the form of butterfat or corn oil. During the first period of eight days, everyone ate three meals of approximately equal size at or about 8:00 A.M., 12 noon and 6:00 P.M. During the second period of eight days, half of each group consumed one sixth of the day’s ration for breakfast, one sixth for lunch and two thirds for dinner. No significant changes in plasma cholesterol or triglycerides occurred. The remaining half of each group consumed their daily ration in eight meals of equal size at intervals of 2 hours. There was a decrease (P < 0.05) in plasma cholesterol in the group on the diet containing corn oil and a smaller decrease (P just over 0.05) in the other group which consumed the ration containing butterfat. No significant changes occurred in plasma triglyceride levels.