Globalisation:European Food Information Council: Snacking is good for you

On the EUFIC website the general advice on snacking is this - Avoidance of eating between meals is standard advice for body weight control, the rationale being that snacking leads to over consumption and thus contributes to weight gain. Some short term laboratory studies support this theory. Studies have demonstrated for example that when people are given a snack prior to a meal, the size of their subsequent meal is not affected. In other words they do not cut down on calories in the meal even after consuming a high calorie snack.