Symptom Relief and Weight Loss From Adherence to a Meal Replacement–enhanced, Low-calorie Detoxification Diet

The incidence of obesity in the United States has risen to an alarming level, resulting in tremendous strain on our health-care system. Chronic and comorbid medical conditions like diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, stroke, cancer, arthritis, and heart disease are all more prevalent in obese individuals.1,2 Additionally, obese individuals are more likely to die from diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and kidney disease.2 The most recent data that the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey collected from 2007 to 2008, showed that the age-adjusted prevalence of obesity (body mass index [BMI] > 30) was 33.8% overall, 32.2% among men, and 35.5% among women. Moreover, Flegal et al estimated that the combined overall prevalence in the US population of being overweight or obese (BMI > 25) was 68.0%.3 Given these statistics, it is not surprising that the commercial sector has developed numerous diet programs to help people with weight loss. Conventional, structured weight-loss strategies usually involve limiting total calories4 or a major macronutrient, such as protein, fat, or carbohydrates, to achieve weight-loss success.5,6 Meal replacement programs are also effective for weight loss and compare favorably with conventional structured diets.7-9 Most recently, detoxification (detox) diets have begun to gain a great deal of attention as a novel approach to losing weight. Detox diets have gone by the name of elimination diets, rotary diversified diets, the Master Cleanse, and many other names. People use them with the expected effect of ridding the body of toxins, cleansing the colon, or improving liver detoxification. The primary outcome that individuals hope to achieve is eventually to feel better. Studies have indicated that these programs can be effective for improving symptoms.10-12 The current research team, however, was unable to find a study on detox diets to substantiate their weight-loss claims. In this study, the primary objectives were to examine the effects of a meal replacement–enhanced, low-calorie detox diet supplying from 800 kcal to 1200 kcal per day on symptoms scores and weight loss to clarify the amount of success to be expected from these measures for individuals following this version of a detox diet. Symptom Relief and Weight Loss From Adherence to a Meal Replacement–enhanced, Low-calorie Detoxification Diet