Editor - You have opened up the exact can of worms that I had been attempting to illustrate, which is that we have no long term evidence for the effects of long term adherence to the diet. The papers that I referred to do indeed contradict many years of research, and thus it is the aim of the National Institute for Clinical Excellence to investigate this diet, and other fad diets, to determine whether or not they are actually helpful and healthy for us all to follow in the long run. Hopefully, this will give us more concrete evidence upon which to base the advice that we will give to our patients.

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