FADS AND QUACKERY IN NUTRITION

 

With a growing body of evidence supporting the link between diet and overall health, many consumers are taking control of their personal health and nutrition decisions. People are becoming more reliant on nutrition information from sources such as websites, television, radio, newspapers, advertisements, friends, and family, which opens the door to nutrition misinformation and health fraud.

What are Fad Diets?

• Any diets that promise dramatic results and weight loss, but are lacking in a scientific base.
• Produce short-term results and become difficult to sustain in the long run because they often eliminate entire food groups.
• No evidence that suggests fad diets will benefit performance and can be detrimental to health.
• In most cases, discontinuing a fad diet results in weight gain.

Reason Fad Diets do not work:

🚫weight loss from fad diets is initially from water and lean muscle

🚫the body breaks down muscles to meet energy requirements

🚫reduces the metabolic rate

🚫create an unsustainable diet leading to weight gain.

How do you spot Fad diets?

Fad diets tend to have:

🚩Severe restriction (fasting, avoidance of any entire food group)

🚩Unrealistic claims (instant energy, removes toxins, lose 10lbs. in 5 days)

🚩Focus on specific foods or nutrients (raw diet, juice cleanse) 

🚩Quick fix solutions (magic weight loss pills)

🚩Excessive supplement or shake usage (appetite suppressants, minerals, herbal supplements, vitamins)

🚩Making enemies with certain foods (dairy makes you fat, grains are processed, carbs make you gain weight)

Paleo Diet:

The diet is based on the food eaten that is believed to be similar to the daily diet of cave people. This diet typically includes lean meats, fish, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds — foods that in the past could be obtained by hunting and gathering. Its purpose is to return to a way of eating that's more like what early humans ate. 

Detox Diets:

A detox diet involves fasting and restricting food groups like grains, dairy, and meat. Some detox diets advocate using herbs and other supplements along with colon cleansing (enemas) to empty the intestines. It lasts any time from three days to a month. The detox diet claims to remove toxins from the body; therefore, leading to more energy and weight loss.

Atkin Diets:

South Beach Diets:

Cabbage Soup or Grapefruit Diets:

Macrobiotic Diets:

Superfoods:

Nutrition Quackery:

What is medical quackery ?

👎“Type of health fraud that promotes products and services that have questionable and unproven scientific bases.” (quackwatch.org). 

⛔It is existed due to lack of laws preventing selling dietary supplements,lack of credentials for nutritionists and findings that go public before duplication.

Claims are only allowed to state:

✅May REDUCE risk or may improve condition

✅ Must include “has not been evaluated by the FDA” and “product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

Recognising nutrition quackery through these red flags claims:

❌Sounds too good to be true or promises a quick fix

❌Wants to make you suspicious about the food supply

❌Testimonials

❌Fake credentials

❌Whole food groups are eliminated

❌ Meaningless medical jargon

❌Use of the word “natural”

❌Pushes megadoses of supplements

❌“Supplements” and “health foods” are recommended to everyone

❌They offer special tests to determine your nutritional status