Many experts suggest that breaking the usual three square meals into several small meals throughout the day will help keep hunger at bay and energy levels high, ultimately leading to a few less pounds on the scale. Hey, it worked for Jennifer Hudson. But a recent study suggests that larger meals might trump mini-meals when it comes to losing weight.

A study from Purdue University in Indiana found that not everyone is satiated when eating smaller meals. “There’s a lot of lay press about eating frequency,” lead author Dr. Heather Leidy told Reuters Health. “These mini-meals everyone is talking about don’t seem to be as beneficial as far as appetite control.” The results have been published in the most recent issue of Obesity.

Dr. Leidy and her team investigated a small group of overweight and obese men and found that participants on a low-calorie, high-protein diet were more satisfied and less hungry when they ate three times a day than they were eating six times a day. All the men were consuming 750 less calories a day than they needed to maintain their current weight, so it’s impressive that hunger wasn’t an issue for them.

So is it time to give up your mini-meals and snacks? Not so fast – everyone’s different and at the end of the day, the best diet is the one that works for you. Do you find yourself ravenous at dinnertime and completely unable to control the urge to eat every last morsel on your already-large plate? Mini-meals might be the right solution for you to help keep your hunger at manageable levels throughout the day. However, if you have a tendency to over-indulge at every meal regardless of your hunger level, treating yourself to six meals a day might be a recipe for disaster. Point is, find what works for you.

Plus, even the researchers are quick to point out that meal frequency isn’t necessarily the most important factor when it comes to weight loss – the amount of protein you’re eating may be more crucial. The study also measured the effect of both high and low protein diets on appetite, and not surprisingly, the high protein diet came out on top. In fact, for the participants on the low protein diet, meal frequency didn’t make a difference at all – they reported feeling more hungry whether they were eating three times a day or six times a day. The study also only looked at a small group of men, and so any results would have to repeated with a much larger sample group to see if it is applicable to the general population.

However, that’s not to say that you should throw out your pasta, potatoes and fruit either – the results don’t support a no-carb approach. “We very clearly want people to know that this is not an Atkins-style diet,” that participants followed, said Dr. Leidy. “You’re still getting an adequate amount of fiber and fruits and vegetables with these diets.”

So whether you’re eating several small meals or three large ones, remember this: Protein and fiber is best for keeping you satisfied and energetic. And if you are a fan of frequent mini-meals, make sure you’re aiming for more of a snack-sized portion than a buffet-caliber feast.

Abbott Laboratories has agreed to take its obesity drug Meridia (sibutramine) off the market, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced Friday.

The company voluntarily withdrew the drug because clinical trial studies showed there was an increased risk of heart attacks and strokes in people who used the drug.

Approximately 8 million people worldwide take the drug, the FDA said, including 100,000 Americans.

The drug had projected sales of $30 million in the U.S. in 2010, Abbott said.

“Meridia’s continued availability is not justified when you compare the very modest weight loss that people achieve on this drug to their risk of heart attack or stroke,” Dr. John Jenkins, M.D., director of the Office of New Drugs in the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, said in a conference call Friday. “Physicians are advised to stop prescribing Meridia to their patients and patients should stop taking this medication. Patients should talk to their health care provider about alternative weight loss and weight loss maintenance programs.”

Approved in 1997 for weight loss, the original data on the drug showed that people who took Meridia lost at least 5 percent more of their body weight than people who were on a placebo and relied on diet and exercise alone.

The FDA requested the company withdraw the drug, after reviewing data from a follow-up study known as the Sibutramine Cardiovascular Outcomes Trial (SCOUT ). It showed there was a 16 percent increase in the risk of serious heart events, including non-fatal heart attack, non-fatal stroke, and death, in a group of patients given Meridia as opposed to others given a placebo.

“In all its investigation of the drug, the FDA could find not one person whose benefit from the drug outweighed its risk,” said Dr. Gerald Dal Pan, director of the Office of Surveillance and Epidemiology at the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.