Researchers in Prague fed two groups of 27 people the same calorie diet spread over two or six meals a day.

 

They found volunteers who ate two meals a day lost more weight than those who ate six, and their blood sugar dropped. 

 

Experts said the study supported "existing evidence" that fewer, larger meals were the way forward.

 

 

Type 2 diabetes occurs when the body does not produce enough of the hormone³ insulin to function properly, or the body's cells don't react to insulin.

 

Since insulin controls the amount of sugar in the blood, this means blood sugar levels become too high.

 

If untreated, it can lead to heart disease and stroke, nerve damage, light-sensitive eyes and kidney disease. 

 

About 2.9 million people in the UK are affected⁴ by diabetes, 90% of whom have the type 2 form of the disease.

 

Current advice in the UK recommends three meals a day, with healthy snacks. 

 

Scientists at the Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine in Prague divided a group of 54 volunteers aged⁶ 30 to 70 with type 2 diabetes into two groups of 27 people. 

 

Volunteers were then given either a six-meal-a-day diet (A6) for 12 weeks followed by a two-meal day diet (B2), or vice⁵ versa. 

 

The study compared two meals with six meals - as the latter accorded with current practice advice in the Czech Republic, researchers said. 

 

Each diet contained on average 1,700 calories a day.

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