The common eating pattern in modern societies, of three meals per day plus snacks, is actually "abnormal" in terms of human evolution, and is at-odds with the body's natural rhythms, the paper finds.

The study, a review of a wide range of scientific research into the effects of limiting calorie intake on the human body, calls for doctors to encourage patients to adopt 'intermittent energy restriction' diets such as the 5:2 diet, where participants eat normally for five days and then eat no more than 500 calories for two days.

Such eating patterns are in fact much more consistent with that of wild animals and "hunter-gatherer humans [who] rarely, if ever, suffer from obesity, diabetes, and cardio-vascular disease."

Entitled 'Meal frequency and timing in health and disease', the paper is published today in PNAS, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in the USA.

It surveys over 80 scientific papers spanning biology, neuroscience and oncology into the relationship between meal timings, food quantities and human health.

Fasting, or radically cutting calorie intake, can help the body break down fat and repair cells, reversing the ageing process, shrinking tumours and guarding neurons against damage caused by neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.

The paper says: "For many of our ancestors, food was scarce and primarily consumed during daylight hours, leaving long hours of overnight fasting.

"With the advent of affordable artificial lighting and industrialisation, modern humans began to experience prolonged hours of illumination every day and resultant extended consumption of food."

Disruption of the body's natural body clock, or "circadian rhythms", encouraged humans, and domesticated animals, to eat more, making them more susceptible to obesity and associated diseases, the authors say.

The authors include experts from the National Institute of Aging in Baltimore and Harvard Medical School in the US, and the Genesis Breast Cancer Prevention Centre at Wythenshawe Hospital in Manchester.

Dr Michelle Harvie, research dietician at Genesis Breast Cancer Prevention and co-author of the paper, said: "There are many myths and assumptions concerning diet and eating patterns, including the belief that a healthy lifestyle should involve three square meals, plus snacks, every day.

"However, this common eating pattern is in fact abnormal from an evolutionary perspective. Emerging studies suggest that intermittent periods of energy restriction can in fact improve health and even counteract disease processes, such as the development of breast cancer.

"As more research is done into the relationship between meal frequency and health, it's important that these eating patterns are incorporated into standard health care policies and that the general population knows how to adapt their diets and lifestyles appropriately."

London Telegraph