Recently the theory has emerged that we shouldn't eat so often and that three times a day would be more than enough. There are those who believe that choosing to eat twice a day would also be a viable option, arguing that a few well-filled meals end up being more satiating than six very restricted meals (and fasting also brings benefits to the body).
Although these theories can be contested, above all it is essential to have common sense. If we get hungry if we don't eat anything between breakfast and lunch, then it makes sense to eat mid-morning to avoid devouring this world and the next at lunchtime. But if we're not hungry, we can skip this intermediate meal and go straight to a balanced lunch. We could say the same thing in relation to the afternoon snack: the idea of the latter is not to eat a lot, but rather to eat enough so as not to arrive at dinner time hungry as hell.
On the other hand, more than the number of meals, the number of calories we eat during the day is also very important, as well as the type of food we choose (whether they are rich in fiber, vitamins, minerals, among other things).
Therefore, perhaps the most sensible thing to do is, above all, to ingest the calories that our body needs to function fully, through nutritionally rich foods, distributed between four to six meals a day, depending on how hungry each person is.