Another Dieter Dies After Severe Diet

Miss Clowe was 34 when she started the LighterLife low calorie diet regime, weighing in at 17st 6lbs
An inquest heard Samantha, who was 5ft 9ins and healthy, ate only the plan’s 500 calories a day. However, she died 11 weeks later. Her fiancee Andrew Smith discovered her collapsed on the landing at their home in Leeds, West Yorkshire, on June 28 2008.
Paramedics attempted to help her, but, she was pronounced dead soon after.
She had gone on this diet because she did not wish to be a fat bride, her mother confirmed.
Dr Alfredo Walker, a Home Office pathologist, stated that a post-mortem examination failed to establish a cause of death. He added that: “It may be related to her low calorie diet and weight loss .” David Hinchcliff, the West Yorkshire Coroner, stated that it is “highly likely” that she died from cardiac arrhythmia, where the heart suddenly stops beating.
Miss Clowe stuck to the LighterLife policy by seeing her GP for the all clear prior to starting the diet, so the hearing was told. She then saw her doctor for two monthly check-ups while on the diet plan . The court was told how she went to LighterLife meetings and ate the very low calorie soup, shakes and snack bars she was given by the company.
The LighterLife website states that the diet is “fast, simple, safe and sustainable.” A spokesman for LighterLife said: “We were very sad to hear the news about Samantha. LighterLife is a clinically monitored programme and has helped 150,000 people lose weight effectively and safely during the past 12 years. When she died she was still clinically obese .”
The LighterLife diet is targeted at those who are more a stone plus overweight, with a Body Mass Index, BMI, of 25 or over.
The weight is lost by only eating a strict number of food packs every day, including soups, shakes and cereal bars.
Dieters with BMIs between 25 and 29.9 can eat three food packs a day plus a conventional meal, but people with BMIs over 30 must only eat four food packs a day and no regular meals.