Food Faddism - Fad Diets

Fad Diets

Food fad is a term originally used to describe simple, catchy diets that often focused on a single element such as cabbage, grapefruit or cottage cheese. In 1974, the term was defined as three categories of food fads.

1. A particular food or food group is exaggerated and purported to cure specific diseases.
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.

Food fad is also used by media and the scientific community to refer to diets that do not follow common nutritional guidelines, regardless of their actual status as a fad; for example, the Atkins and Paleo diets are commonly referred to as food fads, even though they have enjoyed cycles of popularity for several decades. Thus, while called food fads, they are not actual fads (which are defined by sharp but brief spikes in popularity).

FamilyDoctor.org, a publication of the American Academy of Family Physicians, for example proclaims that fad diets "typically don't result in long-term weight loss and they are usually not very healthy. In fact, some of these diets can actually be dangerous to your health. They then offer a long list that includes low-carbohydrate diets in general and Atkins, the Zone diet and three others by name. One scientific study contradicts the website's assertions. A 2007 study published in the Journal of American Medicine concluded that overweight premenopausal women age 25 - 50 without any heart, renal, kidney, or diabetic disease on the Atkins diet lost more weight than those on specific low-fat diets after 12 months. The researchers concluded that low-carbohydrate diets are a "feasible alternative recommendation for weight loss." However, this study did not compare the Atkins diet to calorie restriction diets.