BBC weighs in with Diet Trials

John Plunkett
Monday December 9, 2002

It was the surprise hit of ITV's autumn schedule with C-list celebrities such as Rik Waller and Ann Widdicombe battling to shed a few pounds.

Now BBC1 bosses are jumping on the TV diet bandwagon with a new reality series they claim is the "biggest scientifically approved study of its kind".

Under the auspices of Eamonn Holmes, Diet Trials will follow more than 300 people across the UK as they test four of Britain's best-known weight loss programmes.

The programme, a cross between Test the Nation and Celebrity Fit Club ("Weigh the Nation") will also include expert advice and explanations from leading nutritionists.

Overseen by scientists at Surrey University, it will test four of the best-known diets - Weight Watchers, Slim-Fast, Rosemary Conley and Dr Atkins. All the volunteers are aged between 21 and 60, with 70 per cent of them women.

The six-month experiment, which ends in February, is expected to be one of the biggest hits of the season capitalising on women's neuroses about weight, the media's obsession with the "perfect" size eight figure, and one of the biggest industries in the country - slimming.

Weight Watchers, the world's biggest slimming business backed by Heinz, producer of Weight Watchers ready meals, has a turnover of around £3.5bn a year and employs 34,000 people in 30 countries.

Around 12 million people are thought to be dieting at some stage in their lives and all the volunteers have been classed overweight or obese according to the body mass index - the standard for measuring the ideal weight for a person's height.

"This is the first and biggest study of its kind and is very exciting for the BBC," said a corporation spokesman.

"A lot of people think about dieting. Diet Trials will be the first television programme to comprehensively address their concerns and give guidance to dieters."

The results of the study could have serious implications for the UK dieting industry, which makes profits of more than £2bn a year. Around 12 million Britons are currently thought to be on a diet of one kind or another.

University scientists will also oversee a "control group" to help measure the effect of the diets, and have pledged not to intervene if participants fail to stick to their diets in a bid to reflect real life eating habits.

Diet Trials will be unveiled today by the controller of BBC1, Lorraine Heggessey, at the launch of the channel's winter season of programmes.

http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadca...,856675,00.html

I have a feeling this will be a disaster for Weight Watchers.

I can see it now, when they show the Atkins dieters they will frequently zoom in on greasy bacon and sizzling steaks.

With all due respect, Mr. Frumble, I disagree. Once society figures out that lowcarbing is healthy and works and gets the "experts" stamp of aprroval, WW will revise their diet to promote lowcarbing. WW, LA Weightloss, Jenny Craig, Nutrisysytem and the rest of them don't really care about our health or our weight. What they really care about is the almighty bucks they make off folks like us with weight problems. My prediction is that WW and the rest of them will come out with their own versions (I think LA Weightloss already has) of lowcarbing just so they can continue to separate overweight folks from their money.
asugar

Absolutely Asugar,

If you can remember that far back, Weight Watchers used to be if not low-carb, at least a moderate carb program. Bread, starch and sugar was limited.

It only changed after the low-fat movement gained a lot of ground.

in the 60's my mother ate a lot of meat on that diet!!!
Then when I did it in the 80's.. all the meat was down..and high carb low fat was in.
The pendulum swings ;-)
In the end though.. what it really boils down to .. is that REAL foods are best for us.. and manufactured ease foods.. really aren't.
Poofie!