Crash diets do work, claim experts, but can be dangerous
When it comes to losing weight – and keeping it off – slow and steady has always been regarded as the best approach.
But now experts believe that shedding the pounds much faster could be just as effective, the Daily Mail reports.
And they claim crash dieters are no more likely to regain the weight lost than those who gradually whittle off the pounds.
The research, published in medical journal The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology, contradicts international guidelines which recommend losing weight gradually in order to keep it off for good.
Nutrition experts have long warned of the dangers of crash diets as they lack a broad range of nutrients essential for health.
During the study, 200 obese adults followed either a 12-week rapid weight loss plan or a 36-week gradual programme.
Those on the rapid loss scheme ate only a food substitute of between 450 and 800 calories each day. The gradual dieters had their calorie intake reduced by 500 calories a day from the recommended 2,500 for men and 2,000 for women.
Participants who lost more than 12.5 per cent of their body weight were then put on a three-year weight maintenance diet.
Four out of five crash dieters reached their target weight, compared with just half of those dieting more slowly.
And the crash dieters were no more likely to put the weight back on. In fact both groups regained around 71 per cent of what they had lost within three years.
Katrina Purcell, dietician and study author, said: ‘Guidelines recommend gradual weight loss for the treatment of obesity, reflecting the widely held belief that fast weight loss is more quickly regained. However, our results show achieving a weight loss target of 12.5 per cent is more likely, and drop-out is lower, if losing weight is done quickly.’
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