The phrases food faddism and fad diet originally referred to idiosyncratic diets and eating patterns that promote short-term weight loss, usually with no concern for long-term weight maintenance, and enjoy temporary popularity. [1] The term has been co-opted in recent years by mainstream nutritionists to criticize ideas that challenge conventional wisdom, particularly low-carbohydrate diets. [2]
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.[3]
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"Fad diet" is a term of popular media, not science. Some so-called fad diets may make pseudo-scientific claims, but others labeled "fad" are based on science. According to one definition, 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:
The term "fad diet" has been pulled into the debate in the scientific community over the physiology of weight gain and loss. It has been used by proponents of established views to discount the body of science cited by others, particularly low-carbohydrate diets. Some researchers hold to the established belief that weight loss is strictly a function of a reduction in caloric intake,[5] and that no other strategy can help dieters achieve long term weight loss. Their position has been eroded by numerous studies that finds low-carbohydrate diets as effective or more effective than calorie restriction. JAMA
Food fad is 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.[6]
In recent years food fad has become a popular pejorative term used by the mainstream nutritional and medical community to dismiss ideas and research that differ from their world view. A fad by definition involves a quick and brief surge in popularity. The Atkins diet and the Paleo diet both emerged in the 1970s, yet mainstream nutritionists disparage them as fad diets four decades later. Fad diets are often called "irrational" or "unscientific," which is disingenious since many of the criticized diets were developed by medical doctors, Atkins, for example, or accomplished researchers such as biochemist Barry Sears, who created the Zone diet.
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.[2] They then offer a long list that includes low-carbohydrate diets in general and Atkins, the Zone diet and three others by name. Numerous scientific studies contradict the website's assertions. A 2007 study published in the Journal of American Medicine concluded that women on the Atkins diet lost more weight than those on low-fat diets after 12 months. The researchers concluded that low-carbohydrate diets are a "feasible alternative recommendation for weight loss."[7]
Programs often considered fad diets: