Fad Diets

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• Fad Diets

Pennington Biomedical Research Center Division of
Education
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Proliferation of fad diets

• There are many different types of diets available
  currently.
• Fat diets are available in book form, magazines,
  on-line, and on TV.
• Each one promises better cures than the next with
  huge weight losses in short time.

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How to recognize a fad diet

1. Promise quick weight loss.
2. Limit food selections and dictate specific
   rituals.
3. Use testimonials from famous people

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How to recognize a fad diet

• 4. They bill themselves as cure-alls.
• 5. They often recommend expensive supplements.
• 6. No attempts are made to change eating habits
  permanently.

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How to recognize a fad diet

• 7. Use scientific jargon and terms.
• 8. They are generally critical and skeptical
  about the scientific
  community.

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Types of Fad Diets

• Macronutrient Restrictions
• Low or Restricted-Carbohydrate Approaches
• Low-Fat Approaches
• Novelty Diets

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Types of Fad DietsLow or Restricted
Carbohydrate Approaches

• Most common form of fad diet
• The brain requires glucose for normal
  functioning.
• Glucose is made from tissue proteins.
• This leads to protein tissue loss.

How it works
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Types of Fad DietsLow or Restricted
Carbohydrate Approaches

• Dieter loses weight very rapidly with the loss of
  carbohydrates and fluids.
• Work in the short run because of limited food
  intake.
• Reduced eating due to limited selection.
• On normal diet fluids are restored and the weight
  is regained.

Why you lose weight on it
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Problems With Low or Restricted Carbohydrate
Approaches

• The plan lacks fruits, vegetables, and whole
  grains.
• Not intended for long-term use.
• The plan includes excessive intake of animal
  fats.
• Individuals experience reduced exercise capacity
  due to limited carbohydrate intake.

Problems
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Problems With Low or Restricted Carbohydrate
Approaches

• Can result in metabolic dehydration.
• Due to use of bodys own stores of carbohydrates
  and protein.
• Results in initial weight loss.
• This is extremely stressful and forces the brain
  to alter its metabolism.

Metabolic consequences
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Problems With Low or Restricted Carbohydrate
Approaches

• Can lead to such serious health problems such as
  kidney stress, liver disorders, and gout.
• These diets also increase the risk for
• Coronary heart disease
• Diabetes
• Stroke
• Several types of cancer

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Recent Finds

• Typical Atkins Diet can contain up to 59 fat and
  provides significantly fewer servings of grains,
  vegetables, and fruit than recommended by the
  U.S. Dietary Guidelines.
• Very low-carbohydrate diet increases the risk for
  kidney stone formation and the potential for
  bone loss contributing to osteoporosis.

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Recent FindsFrom the American Heart Association

• According to the AHA, restricting carbohydrate
  levels can increase the risk of heart disease,
  high cholesterol, diabetes, stroke, and certain
  kinds of cancer.

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Recent FindsFrom the American Heart Association

• Most of these plans greatly exceed the AHAs
  dietary guidelines of 15-20 protein and only 10
  saturated fats daily.
• 68 of the calories in the overall diet come from
  fat with 26 coming from saturated fat on the
  Atkins' Diet

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Recent FindsFrom The American Kidney Fund

• High-protein diets can cause scarring in the
  kidneys.
• Dehydration forces the kidneys to work harder to
  clean toxins from the blood.

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Recent FindsFrom the American Institute for
Cancer Research and the World Cancer Research Fund

• Diets high in saturated fat increase the risk of
  prostate, breast , and colon cancer.
• High-protein diets are low in protective dietary
  fiber, which lowers the risk of lung, oral,
  esophageal, stomach, and colon cancer.

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Examples of Low or Restricted Carbohydrate
Approaches

• Dr. Atkins
• Sugar Busters
• Carbohydrate Addicts Diet
• The Five-Day Miracle Diet
• Protein Power
• Enter the Zone
• Endocrine Control Diet
• Healthy For Life

• The Doctors Quick Weight Loss Diet
• Woman Doctors Diet for Women
• Miracle Diet for Fast Weight loss
• Calories Dont Count
• Four Day Wonder Diet
• The Complete Scarsdale Medical Diet

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Types of Fad DietsLow Fat

• Less than 20 of energy comes from fat, usually
  only 5-10.
• There is limited (or elimination of) animal
  protein sources also all
  fats, nuts, and seeds.
• Dieters eat primarily grains, fruit, and
  vegetables, which most people
  cannot do for a very long time.
• Eventually, the individual wants some foods
  higher in fat or
  protein.

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ProblemsWith Low Fat Diet Plans

• Little satiety
• Flatulence
• Possibly poor mineral absorption from excess
  dietary fiber
• Limited food choices sometimes leading to
  deprivation
• The diet is much lower in fat than a typical
  American diet.

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Examples of Low Fat Diet Plans

• The Rice Diet Report
• The Pritikin Diet
• Eat More, Weigh Less
• The 35 Diet
• 20/30 Fat and Fiber
• Fat to Muscle Diet
• T-Factor Diet
• Fit or Fat

• Two Day Diet
• Complete Hip and Thigh Diet
• The Maximum Metabolism Diet
• The Pasta Diet
• G-Index Diet
• Lean Bodies
• Outsmarting the Female Fat Cell
• The Macrobiotic Diet (some versions)

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Types of Fad DietsNovelty Diets

• Some novelty diets emphasize one food or food
  group and exclude almost all others.
• The Rice Diet was originally designed in the
  1940s to lower blood pressure.
• Another novelty diet is the Egg Diet, on which
  you eat all
  the eggs you want.

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Novelty Diets Rice and Egg

• The rationale behind these diets is that you can
  only eat eggs, fruit, or rice for just so long
  before becoming bored, in theory, reducing your
  energy intake.
• However, it is more likely that you will abandon
  the diet entirely before losing much weight.

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Novelty DietsInformation

• Some bizarre novelty diets claim that some food
  combinations putrefies ( ex. meat eaten with
  potatoes) in the intestines and creates toxins,
  which invade the blood and cause disease, and
  overweight and obesity.
• Examples of this type of novelty diet include
  Fit for Life, the Beverly Hills Diet, and Eat
  Great, Lose Weight

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Novelty DietsInformation

• The gimmicks proposed in the different books
  appear controversial but are really designed to
  sell books.
• And most importantly, there is
• No Research or Scientific Evidence backing up
  these claims.

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ProblemsWith Novelty Diets

• They promote certain nutrients, foods, or
  combinations of foods as having unique, magical,
  or previously undiscovered qualities
• They can lead to malnutrition
• No change in everyday eating habits leading to
  relapse
• Unrealistic food choices leading to possible
  bingeing

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Examples ofNovelty Diets

• Dr. Abravenels Body Type and Lifetime
• Fit for Life
• Dr. Bergers Immune Power Diet
• The Hilton Head Metabolism Diet
• The Beverly Hills Diet
• Dr. Debetz Champagne Diet
• Sun Sign Diet

• Eat to Win
• Cabbage-Soup Diet
• Eat Great, Lose Weight
• The Ultrafit Diet
• Two Day Diet
• Paris Diet
• Eat Right 4 Your Type
• 3 Season Diet
• Metabolize

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Quackery

• Fad diets fall under the category of quackery,
  people taking advantage of others.
• Usually costs a considerable amount of money
• Often times, those offering the product or
  service were victims themselves.

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Quackery Tips

• Healthy weight loss approaches that work will be
  reported in the major journals, such as the
• Journal of the American Dietetic Association, the
  
• Journal of the American Medical Association, or
• The New England Journal of Medicine.
• The rule of thumb on seeing a new diet aid on the
  market is that If it sounds too good to be true,
  it usually is.

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Other Diets
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Moderate Calorie Restriction General Overview

• Usually 1000-1800 kcal per day, with a moderate
  fat intake
• Reasonable balance of macronutrients
• Encourages exercise
• May use behavioral approach
• Acceptable if vitamin and mineral supplement is
  used and permission of family physician is granted

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ExamplesModerate Calorie Restriction

• The Setpoint Diet
• Slim Chance in a Fat World
• Weight Watchers Diet
• Mary Ellens Help Yourself Diet Plan
• The Beyond Diet
• Staying Thin
• The Calloway Diet

• Living Without Dieting
• Volumetrics
• Lose the Last 10 pounds
• Dieting with the Duchess
• Dieting for Dummies
• The Wedding Dress Diet
• Dr. Shapiros Picture Perfect Diet

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Very Low Calorie DietsGeneral Overview

• Less than 800 kcal per day
• Also known as protein-sparing modified fasts
• Must be under close physician scrutiny

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Very Low Calorie DietsGeneral Overview

• Used for fast weight loss under doctors
  supervision to get ready for surgery, for
  example.

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Very Low Calorie DietsProblems

• Organ tissue losses- especially from the heart
• Low blood potassium could lead to heart failure
• Expensive to follow
• Potential for kidney stones with rapid weight
  loss
• Potential for Gout

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ExamplesOf Very Low Calorie Diets

• Ultrafast
• Thin So Fast

• Optifast
• Cambridge Diet
• HMR

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Formula DietsGeneral Overview

• Can help people who cannot regulate portion sizes
• Based on formulated or packaged products

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ProblemsWith Formula Diets

• No change in habits are observed.
• Possibly leading to increased chance of relapse
• Expensive
• Often leading to constipation

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Pre-measured DietsGeneral Information

• Most food supplied in pre-measured servings takes
  much of the decision making out of the process of
  eating.
• Expensive
• May not allow for easy sound eating later

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Examples Of Pre-measured Diet

• Jenny Craig
• NutriSystem
• Health Management Resources

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References

• http//www.essentialnutrition.org/lowcarb.php
• Wardlaw G, Kessel M. Perspectives in Nutrition.
  5th ed. 2002
• http//www.jennycraig.com
• http//www.google.com

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Pennington Biomedical Research CenterDivision of
Education

• Heli Roy, PhD, RD
• Outreach Coordinator, Division of Education
• Phillip Brantley, PhD,
• Director, Division of Education
• Claude Bouchard, PhD
• Director, Pennington Biomedical Research Center
• Beth Kalicki

Edited October 2009
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About Our Company
The Pennington Biomedical Research Center is a
world-renowned nutrition research
center.   Mission To promote healthier lives
through research and education in nutrition and
preventive medicine.   The Pennington Center has
several research areas, including   Clinical
Obesity Research Experimental Obesity Functional
Foods Health and Performance Enhancement Nutrition
and Chronic Diseases Nutrition and the
Brain Dementia, Alzheimers and healthy
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maintenance   The research fostered in these
areas can have a profound impact on healthy
living and on the prevention of common chronic
diseases, such as heart disease, cancer,
diabetes, hypertension and osteoporosis.   The
Division of Education provides education and
information to the scientific community and the
public about research findings, training programs
and research areas, and coordinates educational
events for the public on various health
issues.   We invite people of all ages and
backgrounds to participate in the exciting
research studies being conducted at the
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you would like to take part, visit the clinical
trials web page at www.pbrc.edu or call (225)
763-3000.