REUTERS - Girls who ate frequent meals and snacks put on less weight and gained less on their waistlines over a decade than those who only ate a couple of times a day, according to a U.S. study.

Researchers, who tracked more than 2,000 girls for the study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, said that smaller, more frequent meals and snacks may have kept girls satisfied for longer, preventing them from over-eating.