Health
Is eating once a day a good idea? Experts share varying opinions on the ‘OMAD diet’
Traditional guidance has been to eat three square meals a day — but a trending diet plan has some people eating just once.
Dubbed the One Meal a Day (OMAD) diet, it’s a form of intermittent fasting that involves eating all the day’s calories in a single meal, after 23 hours of fasting.
Dr. Jason Fung, a Canadian nephrologist (kidney specialist), is known to be an expert in intermittent fasting (IF). He spoke with Fox News Digital about the OMAD diet, which he described as a stricter version of IF.
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Both diets involve “time-restricted eating,” Fung noted — but with intermittent fasting, people can eat twice a day.
If you only eat once a day, the natural tendency will be to eat less overall, he said.
The One Meal a Day (OMAD) diet is a form of intermittent fasting that involves eating all of the day’s calories in a single meal, after 23 hours of fasting. (iStock)
The body is either in a state of storing calories or burning them, according to the expert.
When a person fasts for an extended period, the body begins to use fat for energy, which can actually decrease hunger, Fung said.
Who could benefit?
The two main health conditions that can greatly benefit from OMAD and intermittent fasting are weight loss and type 2 diabetes, according to Fung.
“Fasting really impacts weight and sugars, because that’s the way calories are stored – as sugar and fat,” he said.
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Losing weight can potentially reduce the risk of heart disease, stroke and obesity-related cancers, the doctor noted, in addition to alleviating back pain, knee pain and pressure on joints.
“You can actually reverse your type 2 diabetes with intermittent fasting,” Fung said, referencing previously studies published by the National Institutes of Health and Diabetes Care.
When a person fasts for an extended period, the body begins to use fat for energy, which can actually decrease hunger, one expert said. (iStock)
Fung described how one of his patients who had diabetes for 15 years was able to discontinue his insulin medication after going on the OMAD diet three times a week for a month.
The patient is still not taking insulin and continues to fast regularly, though not as frequently, he added.
“You can actually reverse your type 2 diabetes with intermittent fasting.”
People with hypoglycemia who are not on blood glucose-lowering type 2 diabetes medications should still be able to follow the OMAD diet if they avoid highly refined carbohydrates, which can cause glucose levels to spike, said Fung.
He recommends eating whole, natural, unprocessed foods.
“Fasting really impacts weight and sugars, because that’s the way calories are stored – as sugar and fat,” one fasting expert told Fox News Digital. (iStock)
Fern Katzman, a Toronto-based clinical nutritionist, told Fox News Digital that she has seen patients with type 2 diabetes go off Metformin, an oral antidiabetic medication, or not have to go on it at all after engaging in intermittent fasting, or OMAD.
Katzman said people should have a reason to go on OMAD, such as to address medical issues or to bring down elevated blood sugar levels after a period of eating or drinking excessively.
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“Insulin drives cravings,” she told Fox News Digital. “After you eat or drink a lot, your insulin spikes, and that makes you hungry.”
Katzman added, “The one thing that everybody tells me when they’ve done OMAD is that the cravings stop — and that is the key to any weight loss program.”
The two main health conditions that can greatly benefit from OMAD and intermittent fasting are weight loss and type 2 diabetes, an expert said. (iStock)
In addition to losing weight, Katzman said her patients have reported better digestion and decreased bloating on the OMAD diet because “sugar makes yeast and yeast bloats you.”
Patients have also noticed immediate improvements in their mood and energy levels on the diet, she added.
Katzman recommends filling up on vegetables, protein and grains, like quinoa and small amounts of brown rice.
‘Not for everyone’
Katzman cautioned that OMAD is “not for everyone” — it’s likely not a good choice for those who have eating disorders or are hypoglycemic, for example.
Dr. Lisa Young, a registered dietitian nutritionist in Florida, echoed those same concerns, warning that the OMAD diet can trigger people with eating disorders.
“You’re not focusing on your intuitive internal signals of hunger and fullness,” she told Fox News Digital. “You’re not trusting yourself.”
For those following the diet, experts recommend sticking to “whole, natural, unprocessed foods.” (iStock)
Young also warned that the diet can “make you fatigued.”
“It could even make you hungrier and cause hypoglycemia (low blood sugar),” she added.
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Dr. Joel Kahn, a holistic cardiologist in Michigan, is also not a proponent of the OMAD diet.
The doctor noted that studies from the National Institutes of Health and the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) substantiate that eating just one meal in the evening can result in declining metabolic health, higher blood sugar levels and greater insulin resistance.
“You’re not focusing on your intuitive internal signals of hunger and fullness.”
“Theoretically, if you’re going to do a One Meal a Day diet, you might actually do it in the morning hours,” Kahn told Fox News Digital.
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The doctor instead recommends the Daniel Diet, which he described as a “faith-based diet” of plants and legumes inspired by the Book of Daniel.
Khan is also a fan of the Prolon 5-Day Program, a plant-based fasting-mimicking diet, which he said could help people achieve a younger biological age.
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A new injectable therapy is showing positive results in reducing melanoma throughout a five-year period.
The personalized mRNA cancer therapy, called intismeran autogene, combined with the cancer immunotherapy drug KEYTRUDA (pembrolizumab), is a collaboration between Merck and Moderna.
The results from the phase 2b KEYNOTE-942 study were presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting in Chicago on May 27.
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After about a five-year follow-up, the combo drug was found to reduce the risk of melanoma recurrence or death by 49% compared to pembrolizumab alone.
The researchers analyzed data from 157 patients with high-risk stage 3 and 4 melanoma whose cancer had been removed via surgery. The participants were split into two groups — one received the combo therapy and the other only received pembrolizumab, according to a press release.
The therapy was found to reduce the risk of melanoma recurrence or death by 49% compared to pembrolizumab alone after a five-year follow-up. (iStock)
The findings revealed that the combination group saw benefits that were “sustained and durable over time.”
Intismeran autogene is designed using mutations identified in a patient’s own tumor, with the intention of teaching the immune system what the cancer looks like so that it can recognize and attack it.
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According to the researchers, intismeran is “well-tolerated” with a “manageable” safety profile.
The most commonly cited side effects of the personalized mRNA vaccine plus KEYTRUDA were fatigue, injection-site pain, chills, fever and headache. The researchers reported no new long-term safety concerns and no severe vaccine-related adverse events.
The combination therapy is currently being evaluated in a phase 3 study — the final confirmation stage.
Patients with late-stage melanoma have a “significant risk” of cancer recurrence, according to an expert. (iStock)
In a Merck press release from January, Kyle Holen, MD, Moderna’s senior vice president and head of development, oncology and therapeutics, noted that this data highlights the “potential of a prolonged benefit … in patients with resected high-risk melanoma.”
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“We continue to invest in our platform in oncology because of encouraging outcomes like these, which illustrate mRNA’s potential in cancer care,” he said.
Dr. Marjorie Green, senior vice president and head of oncology, global clinical development at Merck Research Laboratories, also commented that for many patients with stage 3 or 4 melanoma, there is a “significant risk of recurrence following surgery.”
Researchers confirmed that the combination therapy is currently being evaluated in a phase 3 study. (iStock)
“As such, demonstrating the longer-term potential of intismeran autogene and KEYTRUDA to reduce the risk of recurrence for certain patients with melanoma is a meaningful milestone,” she said.
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The company cited encouraging five-year follow-up data and pointed to upcoming late-stage INTerpath trial results with Moderna in several hard-to-treat cancers.
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An accidental lab discovery has opened the door to entirely new ways of preventing the flu.
While investigating how influenza replicates, researchers discovered that different flu strains use completely different strategies to infiltrate human cells, SWNS reported.
By targeting the specific molecules the viruses rely on, scientists found that they could block them from entering new cells and halt their replication altogether.
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Researchers say these “fundamental insights” into seasonal influenza highlight a clear path toward developing better preventive medications.
“The hope is that fundamental, curiosity-based research like this helps to pave the way for novel strategies to treat and prevent influenza infections,” principal investigator Dr. Emily Bruce, from the University of Vermont’s Larner College of Medicine, said in the SWNS report.
While investigating how influenza replicates, researchers discovered that different flu strains use completely different strategies to infiltrate human cells. (iStock)
While several flu strains cause illness, H1N1 and H3N2 influenza A viruses are the most common. However, current flu tests cannot differentiate between them, and clinical treatments are identical for both.
Although vaccines and antivirals are available, Bruce noted a “dire” need for better medications to stop the virus from spreading cell to xxcell.
“You don’t get sick when a virus is in one cell,” he noted. “You get sick because a virus replicates itself and goes into many more cells.”
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The study, which was published in The Journal of Virology, originally aimed to map how viral RNA segments are transported within cells to create new viral particles.
The team used H1N1 and H3N2 viruses isolated from the nasal passages of positive patients in 2022.
Clinical treatments remain identical for both primary strains of the flu virus. (iStock)
During the investigation, the team unexpectedly stumbled upon a cellular pathway that blocked the virus from entering lung cells, SWNS reported.
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The data revealed that when a specific human protein called Rab11B was depleted, H3N2 viruses failed to enter human lung cells. H1N1 viruses were completely unaffected.
Using reverse genetics, the team mapped this defect and uncovered a brand-new, H3N2-specific role for Rab11B during viral entry.
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This discovery challenged the scientific assumption that all flu viruses enter cells the same way.
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“Viruses are like pirates from different countries hijacking someone’s ship,” Bruce said. “Different viruses, like different types of pirates, use different methods to get onboard.”
This discovery challenged the scientific assumption that all flu viruses enter cells the same way. (iStock)
“We had previously thought that all flu viruses used the same way to get into a cell, but we discovered that this is not true,” she went on. “H1N1 and H3N2 need different proteins to get in, and if you get rid of the right protein, a specific virus can’t get in.”
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While these findings identify a critical cellular pathway for viral entry, the study was conducted using isolated cells, the researchers acknowledged.
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Further research is needed to determine whether blocking the protein is safe and effective within a live, complex human respiratory system.
Bruce and the team hope to conduct further research to determine whether this Rab11B-dependency is a fundamental property of H3N2, or if it’s a trait unique to currently circulating flu strains.
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Eating processed meat like ham, sausage and bacon may be linked to a higher risk of certain types of cancer, according to new research.
While health organizations have already confirmed that processed meat can contribute to colon cancer, this study looked closer at cancers in the upper digestive tract, where the link has historically been less clear.
To understand these connections, researchers from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC), one of the world’s largest long-term nutrition and cancer cohorts, tracked the health and diets of 450,112 people across Europe for an average of 14 years.
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The study group included 131,426 men and 318,686 women, according to the study’s press release.
During the follow-up period, 876 people developed stomach cancer and 215 people developed esophageal adenocarcinoma, which is cancer of the tube connecting the mouth to the stomach.
For female participants, eating both processed meat and white meat was linked to an increased risk of developing the disease. (iStock)
Researchers tracked where the stomach cancers grew, separating them into the upper part of the stomach near the throat and the lower part of the stomach.
The researchers also sorted the tumors into two categories based on how the cancer cells appeared under a microscope: intestinal, which forms more organized structures, and diffuse, in which the cells are more scattered throughout the tissue.
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After adjusting for other lifestyle factors, the researchers found that for every extra 30 grams of processed meat a person ate per day, their overall risk of stomach cancer went up by 9%. Eating that same extra 30 grams a day was also linked to a 13% higher risk of esophageal adenocarcinoma.
A standard single slice of regular deli-sliced ham or lunch meat averages around 28 grams, according to USDA data and nutritional tracking databases.
An extra 20 grams of white meat, such as chicken and turkey, was linked to a 12% higher risk of cancer in the main body of the stomach. (iStock)
An extra 20 grams of white meat, such as chicken or turkey, was linked to a 12% higher risk of cancer in the main body of the stomach, the researchers noted.
The study also revealed differences between men and women. For male participants, only processed meat showed a clear, statistically significant link to a higher risk of stomach cancer. For female participants, however, eating both processed meat and white meat was linked to an increased risk.
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These findings align with global health benchmarks, particularly those established by the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer.
The agency has long classified processed meat as a known human carcinogen, primarily due to its strong, well-documented links to colorectal cancer.
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However, health organizations have also consistently pointed to a potential, yet less definitive, relationship between these meats and cancers of the stomach.
Eating 30 grams of processed meat a day, or the equivalent to one slice of ham, was linked to a 13% higher risk of esophageal adenocarcinoma. (iStock)
Further scientific investigation is needed to confirm the findings and to account for other underlying risk factors, such as certain stomach infections, which could interact with dietary habits.
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A key limitation of the study is its reliance on self-reported diets, which can sometimes lead to inaccuracies in how participants recall their meat consumption over time, the researchers noted.
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The findings were published in the International Journal of Cancer.
Fox News Digital reached out to the researchers requesting comment.
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