The diet industry is very profitable for those that run it. Commercially available diets and their products are big business and this is a growing industry, largely as a result of the increasing prevalence of obesity. The cause of the weight gain currently being observed throughout the developed nations is consumption of increasingly poor quality foods that are devoid of meaningful levels of fibre and micronutrients, yet contain high concentrations of fructose, trans fats and oxidised fats. The foods damage the metabolism of the individual and disrupt normal appetite and energy regulatory pathways. However, the experts, with coercion from the food manufacturers, have convinced the population they are fat because they are eating too much food and as a result the vast majority of individuals turn to energy restricted diets in an attempt to lose weight. This strategy is doomed to failure in the long term because the energy restriction further damage normal metabolism, while doing nothing to eliminate the causative low quality foods.
Researchers1 have assessed the effectiveness of commercial diets using randomised trials that included strategies employed on such diets. Studies of at least 12 week in duration were included in a scientific review, and all the diets included had follow up periods that lasted at least 1 year in order to assess the effectiveness of the diets. The commercial diets from various companies including eDiets, Health Management Resources, Take Off pounds Sensibly, OPTIFAST and Weight Watchers were expensive, had high attrition rates and a high probability of gaining back all of the body fat lost (~50 % of the weight lost) within 1 to 2 years. Internet based commercial operations that promised weight loss produced minimal weight loss in subjects. Because the studies did not control for high attrition rates, the results of the diets may be even worse than this best case scenario as some individuals not included in analysis may have gained weight. Also none of the commercial diets differentiated between body fat losses and lean tissue losses.
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