A、They are healthy, normal-weight men and women in their 40s. B、They ate only one meal every day during the study. C、They lost a

People often miss meals because they get busy or are trying to lose weight. But how you skip meals, and the amount you eat at your next meal, can affect your overall health.
     In recent months, (26) two new studies may help explain how skipping meals affects health.
     The more recent study looked at what happens when people skip meals but end up eating just as much as they would in a normal day when they finally do sit down to a meal. The study, conducted by diabetes researchers, involved healthy, normal-weight men and women in their 40s. (27) For two months, the study subjects ate three meals a day. For another eight-week period, they skipped two meals but ate the same number of calories in one evening meal, consumed between 4 p. m. and 8 p. m.
     The researchers found that skipping meals during the day and eating one large meal in the evening resulted in potentially risky metabolic changes. If the meal skippers persisted long term, it could lead to diabetes.
     The study was notable because it followed another study earlier this year that found that skipping meals every other day could actually improve a patient’s health. In that study, overweight adults ate normal meals one day. This was followed by a day of severely restricted eating, when they ate about 400 or 500 calories a day -- the equivalent of about one meal.
     After following the special dieting pattern for two months, (28) the dieters lost an average of 8 percent of their body weight, and they had lower cholesterol.
     The conclusion, say the authors of the more recent meal-skipping study, is that skipping meals as part of a controlled eating plan that results in lower calorie intake can result in better health. However, skipping meals during the day and then overeating at the evening meal results in harmful changes in the body.