Celebrity ‘fad’ diets are considered to be fuelling the obesity epidemic, according to certain doctors.
Some doctors claim that they are in fact keeping people fat, with 1 out of 10 Britons forecast to be a healthy weight by 2050.
Some doctors assert that weight watchers ought to reduce the amount they eat, as opposed to following diets which offer a short-term solution.
Diets that recommend eating just grapefruit, or fruit and seeds should be avoided, says Professor Chris Hawkey, president of the British Society of Gastroenterology (BSG).
He also had no good words for the Tiger diet, which recommends uncooked food and is meant to be followed by Mel Gibson, nor the apple diet, which is apparently meant to boost the body’s acidity and combat disease.
A survey commissioned by the BSG highlights that the majority of dieters will try almost anything to become slim, other than a healthy eating and exercise plan which has proven to be successful.
One in 20 women stated that they would attempt the Atkins diet to lose weight, although just 2 per cent consider it to be good for their health .
Survey results have also shown that 1 in 5 out of 2,000 Britons questioned stated that they would use weight loss pills to help lose excess pounds.
Professor Hawkey, speaking today at the Gastro 2009 conference in London, is going to claim that relentless promotion of unhealthy foods and diets has fostered over-eating and the growth of pathological attitudes to eating, including bulimia, anorexia and orthorexia, the obsession with eating ‘good’ foods, as well as malnutrition.
