Fad diet

Food faddism and fad diet usually refer to idiosyncratic diets and eating patterns.

The term "food fad" may also be used with a positive connotation, namely, to describe the short term popularity among restaurants and consumers of an ingredient, dish, or preparation technique.

Fad diets

Belief in fad diets by adherents is often irrational. Many individuals who adhere to fad diets will not consider recommendations made by nutritionists and dieticians. Fad diets often rely on extreme dietary habits that are difficult to maintain long-term and may not give them the results that they hope for or expect. In a speech at the Gastro 2009 Conference, Professor Chris Hawkey, President of The British Society of Gastroenterology said "What's important is to recognize that despite the popularity of fad diets, we are losing a grip on the fight with obesity. We need to do away with quirky diets and get people to realize what will keep them healthy in the long run."

There are three categories of food fads. Some food fads incorporate a combination of categories:

1. The virtue of a particular food or food group is exaggerated and purported to cure specific diseases, and is therefore incorporated as a primary constituent of an individual’s diet.
2. Foods are eliminated from an individual’s diet because they are viewed as harmful.
3. An emphasis is placed on eating certain foods to express a particular lifestyle.

Extreme faddist diets often lack the energy, suitable protein, fat-soluble vitamins, and some minerals that are essential for growing children. Parents forcing children to adhere to fad diets to the point of severe nutritional disorders is considered a form of child abuse.

Scientific view

Many forms of food faddism and fad diets are supported by pseudo-scientific claims. Fad diets claim to be scientific but do not follow the scientific method in establishing their validity. Among the scientific shortcomings of the claims made in support of fad diets:

• not being open to revisions, whereas real science is.
• observations that prompt explanations are used as evidence of the validity of the explanation.

Some in the scientific community comment that food faddism is born of ignorance about basic scientific dietary facts. The evidence supporting weight loss enhanced by anything other than caloric restriction is lacking. There is also a lack of evidence to support that fad diets produce sustainable weight loss. Fad diets generally ignore or refute what is known about fundamental associations between dietary pattern and human health.

See also

Programs often considered fad diets:

• Atkins diet
• Breatharian
• Cabbage soup diet
• Grapefruit diet
• Fruitarianism
• Israeli Army diet
• Low-fat diet
• Macrobiotic diet
• Master Cleanse
• Nutrisystem
• Paleolithic diet
• South Beach Diet
• Gerson therapy

Other:

• Diet
• Nutrition
• Dieting
• Pseudoscience
• Healthy diet
• Obesity