Worst weight-loss diet of 2013

JANUARY 2, 2014

by Carolyn Dunn

Professor and Nutrition Specialist4-H Youth Development/Family and Consumer Sciences

I have been in the nutrition field long enough to see some crazy diet trends. Cabbage and water diet, boiled egg and banana diet, the gummy bear diet…wow. While these diet trends are certainly not nutritionally sound, a couple of days and most folks run screaming back to some sort of normal diet. This year, however, marks a diet trend that is not only a nutritional nightmare but be harmful even in the short term and may cause major health problems or death.

Enter the cotton ball diet. The cotton ball diet prescribes that you soak 5 cotton balls in orange juice or a smoothie and eat prior to meals. The swallower of said cotton balls then is not hungry and does not eat or may not eat as much. Really?, cotton balls. Let’s break this down as to the dangers. First, cotton balls are not food grade; they are not even cotton. They are made of polyester fibers that have been chemically bleached. They are certainly not made for human (or any animal for that matter) consumption. Over time the chemicals could be harmful. In the short term, consumption of cotton balls also could cause an intestinal obstruction or a blockage both of which are serious and possibly fatal.

While I am calling this the “worse diet of 2013,” is not really a diet at all but a form of disordered eating. It points to an obsession to find an easy solution to eating smart and moving more to achieve and maintain a healthy weight. Usually with crazy diet trends a few days will not kill you – this diet is the exception.  Even one day of the cotton ball diet could mean serious health issues.