LONDON, July 27 (UPI) -- Despite longstanding advice to eat regular meals and skip nighttime snacks, a U.S. researcher says one meal at night results in thinner, healthier rats.
The study by Mark Mattson at the National Institute on Aging in Baltimore was reported in the British journal Lancet. It found rats on the so-called "blowout" diet ate 40 percent less food overall and lived longer than rats that could eat when they chose.
Rats, which were alternately starved and allowed to gorge themselves, also had lower blood pressure, clearer arteries and less risk of developing diabetes, the London Daily Mail reported.
The blowout diet also appeared to inhibit cancer and Alzheimer's disease.
Mattson now is testing the blowout diet on humans, who fast during the day and feast during the evening.
British experts were cautious, however,
"There is a lot of good research to back the current recommendations to eat at regular intervals," a spokeswoman for the British Dietetic Association said.
