Do “fad diets” really work?
Eulalee Thompson High-protein diets are “very dangerous” and can have long-term effects especially in people who are at risk for diabetes and heart disease, warned Dr. Pauline Samuda, Caribbean Food and Nutrition Institute’s (CFNI’s) nutrition educator. THE CONSTANT quest by many people to shed a few pounds here and there often leads them down the road of fad (or crash) dieting. It is a quest which the fad diet industry feeds into… happily. But do fad diets really work? Dr. Pauline Samuda, Caribbean Food and Nutrition Institute’s (CFNI’s) nutrition educator said that if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. No fad diet, she emphasised, has been proved to maintain weight loss for any period of time. Some of them are downright dangerous. “Most fad diets can show a short-term, weight-reducing effect. This is mainly due to fluid loss from the body and once the individual returns to normal eating the weight is regained, sometimes more weight than was lost,” Dr. Samuda said. Cable
