Chris Martin’s One Meal A Day Habit: Why Is It So Popular With Famous Men? Does it really have any health benefits?
Coldplay frontman Chris Martin sparked a debate online today when he revealed that he only eats one meal a day.
The 46-year-old singer said he began the strict diet after having lunch with Bruce Springsteen, 73, who was “in better shape” than he was.
There is a substantial number of studies dating back at least a decade that suggest that intermittent fasting can extend a person’s life, trigger weight loss, and reduce the risk of diseases like diabetes and Alzheimer’s.
It has been suggested that restricting calories and time spent digesting food intake reduces inflammation levels in the body, as well as giving cells time to remove toxic products from the body that could be harmful.
However, in recent years a small body of research has emerged linking the trend to a shorter lifespan and increased risk of heart disease. Experts suggest this may be because intermittent fasters eat more than one sitting, which they say could damage cells.
Chris Martin, 46, made the shocking admission to eating just one meal a day during an appearance on Conan O’Brien’s Needs A Friend podcast.
However, these are early findings and experts say intermittent fasting is still better than overeating, as obesity has been shown to cause a number of health problems.
Martin also didn’t reveal what he eats, though he oddly joked that it was usually a buffalo flank and steroid sauce.
However, he said he’s a lousy cook, saying he’s had to call the fire service both times he’s tried to cook in the past decade.
Other celebrities who have gone on the diet in the past include Mark Wahlberg, Chris Hemsworth and Hugh Jackman.
Intermittent fasting supporters have highlighted a number of touted health benefits of the diet plan.
They include an important Canadian meta-analysis launched in 2020 that analyzed 27 trials out of 27 trials that found people using the plan could lose up to 13 percent of their weight without serious adverse effects.
Other meta-analysis published in 2015 by researchers in Salt Lake City, Utah, suggested that the plan left people less likely to develop coronary artery disease or diabetes.
Research has also found that the habit can increase the sensitivity of cells to insulin, which may be because less hormone is released daily, further reducing the risk of diabetes.
Studies in mice have shown that the diet plan can increase longevity and may reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s.
Dietary rodents appear less prone to the buildup of dangerous beta-amyloid proteins in the brain.
However, these benefits have yet to be confirmed in humans, and some studies now suggest otherwise.
A paper published last year that followed 24,000 Americans over the age of 40 warned that those who ate one meal a day were 30 percent more likely to die from any cause in 15 years compared to those who ate three.
This held true even if people exercised, ate healthily and rarely smoked or drank alcohol, the researchers said.
The scientists suggested this was because people who fasted ended up consuming a large amount of food in one sitting, which could put additional stress on the body as it tries to digest a large number of calories and nutrients at once.
They added, however, that it was still too early to say conclusively that intermittent fasting played a role in suffering premature deaths.
Another suggested that intermittent fasting for weight loss was no more effective than restricting calorie intake.
And a third carried out in mice suggested that skipping breakfast could increase the risk of developing heart disease or cancer.
Experts have previously warned DailyMail.com that people should be careful when choosing to fast intermittently.
