OMAD (one meal a day)
A single daily eating occasion, effectively a 23:1 window. Hitting protein and micronutrient targets in one sitting is the practical difficulty.
Food & fasting
Research records
Historical source snapshot. Not freshly verified, not a recommendation. Study findings, community accounts and app defaults are not interchangeable.
Publication suitability · 2026-10-15: Historical reference only; not a clinical verification. Clinical, regulatory, efficacy, safety and dose claims are not independently established by this review.
OMAD (one meal a day)
A single daily eating occasion, effectively a 23:1 window. Hitting protein and micronutrient targets in one sitting is the practical difficulty.
Evidence category: Systematic review. This describes the source category, not approval or certainty.
Regulatory statement in source: Not separately recorded; do not infer approval from the evidence category.
No linked study tested one meal a day directly. A scoping review of 81 studies of time-restricted eating reports better body composition, insulin sensitivity, lipids and inflammation, but it excluded prolonged fasting and looked at wider eating windows. A meta-analysis of intermittent fasting covering 64 reports found alternate-day fasting gave the largest metabolic gains, with people who have obesity or metabolic syndrome benefiting most. Evidence for this specific pattern is therefore indirect, and nutrient adequacy in a single meal is not addressed by these sources.
Benefits reported in the imported source
- No linked study tested one meal a day directly; the evidence here is indirect
Risks and limits
- The scoping review covered wider eating windows and excluded prolonged fasting
- A pooled analysis found alternate-day fasting, not this pattern, gave the strongest metabolic changes
- Whether a single meal covers nutrient needs is not addressed by these sources
Source bottom line: Eating once a day has no direct study in these sources; the evidence comes from broader fasting research.
Uncertainty: Reference information only. Not medical advice.
Study protocols — reports, not instructions
adults across 81 studies of time-restricted eating, excluding alternate-day and prolonged fasting
- Reported regimen
- time-restricted eating protocols such as 16:8 and 14:10 daily eating windows
- Duration
- not stated
- Reported outcome
- The review reports better body composition, insulin sensitivity, lipids and inflammation, with early feeding giving better glycaemic outcomes.
- Source
- Time-Restricted Eating in Metabolic and Clinical Health: a Current Evidence and Mechanistic Insights (Minari 2026)
Claim provenance
evidence.json#/catalog:food-protocol:omad/protocols/0
4,052 participants across 64 studies of intermittent fasting
- Reported regimen
- alternate-day fasting (1+1, 5:2, 4:3), time-restricted fasting with eating windows of 4-16 hours, and Ramadan fasting
- Duration
- about 2-8 weeks up to one year
- Reported outcome
- Weight, BMI, waist and total cholesterol were similar across regimes; alternate-day fasting gave the strongest lipid, insulin and blood-pressure changes.
- Source
- Effects of Intermittent Fasting on Regulation of Metabolic Homeostasis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis in Health and Metabolic-Related Disorders (availability check 2026-10-15: possible access barrier; not independently inspected; HTTP 200)
Claim provenance
evidence.json#/catalog:food-protocol:omad/protocols/1
Community and practice descriptions
Accounts of a practice are not evidence of safety or effectiveness. Words such as “standard”, “safe” or “recommended” describe the source account, not verified consensus or this wiki’s advice. Commercial and self-published citations are retained for traceability, not vendor endorsement or independent clinical corroboration.
Unverified imported account — What Is OMAD? Is the One Meal a Day Diet Healthy? - Healthline
An imported authored paraphrase, not a quotation or a recommended protocol.
Review: unverified historical account. The imported wording is preserved for attribution; its full clinical, dosing, efficacy or consensus claims have not been independently established. Described practice context only; no clinical benefit or safety outcome is inferred.
Imported wording: A Healthline guide describes one-meal-a-day eating as concentrating daily food intake into one meal rather than several meals.
What Is OMAD? Is the One Meal a Day Diet Healthy? - Healthline
Historical research outcome: verified-description · 2026-10-06
An attributed practice description was verified without importing the source's benefit claims, recommendations or assumptions about prevalence.
- https://www.healthline.com/health/one-meal-a-day: verified-description — Independently read the live source and checked this limited, attributed description: A Healthline guide describes one-meal-a-day eating as concentrating daily food intake into one meal rather than several meals.
Pharmacokinetic context
No half-life recorded in this source snapshot. No value has been inferred.
Source references
- Time-Restricted Eating in Metabolic and Clinical Health: a Current Evidence and Mechanistic Insights (Minari 2026)
- Effects of Intermittent Fasting on Regulation of Metabolic Homeostasis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis in Health and Metabolic-Related Disorders (availability check 2026-10-15: possible access barrier; not independently inspected; HTTP 200)
- PubMed: one meal a day (availability check 2026-10-15: possible access barrier; not independently inspected; HTTP 200)
Snapshot provenance
Source ID: catalog:food-protocol:omad. Commit: adc7684614f9439b41d91a3312b62e7982c7e20e. Review state: historical-not-reverified. Authored links are retained separately from the canonical evidence links in the public data. App templates/defaults and rejected drafts are archived, not deployed.
Related entries and components
None listed.