Consuming little food at intervals may help lower blood pressure and cholesterol, and even encourage weight loss, the Daily Mail reported.
In a recent study, scientists from the Imperial College, London, compared the diets of more than 2,000 people from the UK, Japan, China and the US.
While they all had the same calorie intake and food, half the participants ate fewer than six times a day, while the remainder ate more than six times.
The study found that the first group had a significantly higher systolic blood pressure - the pressure that blood exerts on vessels while the heart is beating - compared with the more frequent eaters.
They were also significantly heavier.
The researchers are now planning a larger trial involving 50 patients with high blood pressure who will eat either three or nine meals a day to assess the effects of the different regimens.
As well as their blood pressure, patients will have their levels of insulin, glucose and fatty acids recorded.
Another research from the University of Athens, based on more than 2,000 children aged nine to 13, found those who ate five times a day were 32.6 per cent less likely to have high levels of bad cholesterol than those who ate fewer meals.
Meanwhile, eating at least four small meals a day - a 'nibbling' diet, as researchers called it - sped up metabolism and lowered the risk of obesity, according to a Maastricht University study.
"Splitting food intake so we eat many times a day will have metabolic benefits over and above the same food consumed in a small number of meals," said Dr Susan Jebb, head of the Medical Research Council's Human Nutrition Research Unit.
While eating three square meals a day has been the norm for generations, it has no biological basis, said Professor Paul Freedman, editor of the book Food: The History Of Taste.
"It is a cultural thing. Three meals a day came in around the 19th century, and the changes that occurred were linked to other events. Artificial light made it possible to cook and eat after dark," Freedman said.
"There were work changes, too. In the 19th century, a worker in Britain would start his morning with ale and bread, then bring food into the fields and have a large meal in the afternoon. He might have eaten what he called 'dinner' at 2 PM, depending on work, season and other factors," he added.
