Hold The Mayo: That Diet Name's Counterfeit

For more than 30 years, tales have circulated of miraculous results from this special diet -- "Lose 52 pounds in 2 1/2 months!" -- "Eat until you're stuffed!" -- "You can double, or even triple the meat you normally eat!

Sound too good to be true? It is.

It's called the Mayo Clinic Diet, or sometimes, the New Mayo Clinic Diet. But it has nothing to do with the Mayo Clinic. In fact, the famous clinic -- with hospitals in Minnesota, Florida and Arizona -- has gone to great lengths to distance itself from the counterfeit diet plan that carries its legendary name.

"There is no Mayo Clinic diet," the real clinic's Web site proclaims. Words echoed by the clinic's spokesman, John Murphy. "There is no Mayo Clinic diet," he said when contacted recently. "That's really all I can tell you."

This so-called diet has been kicking around for no less than 30 years, promising to melt away pounds at the rate of more than several dozens a month. All of this is supposed to take place while its adherents gorge themselves on as much meat and other high-protein, high-fat foods they can put away.

Real Mayo Clinic dieticians field hundreds of questions about the bogus diet each month -- so many, in fact, that the calls are automatically routed to a recorded message at (507) 538-0287. The message tells all callers that, yes, there is no such thing as a Mayo Clinic diet.

Most alarming, say Mayo Clinic dieticians, , is that some callers are claiming their own doctors recommended the plan.

"We want you to know that this diet, which emphasizes eggs, meat and certain 'magical' properties of grapefruit -- did not originate at The Mayo Clinic. We don't use it. And we don't endorse its use," says a clinic dietician. "Please share this information with friends and your doctor."

If the Mayo Diet wouldn't die before, the explosion of the Internet has only give it more life. While the diet's instructions formerly circulated on photocopied sheets passed by hand or fax, they now show up as postings on Web sites, multiplying their exposure.

The Myth Behind The Hoax

There is a fanciful tale behind the fakery. The urban legend has it that this bizarre diet was first prescribed for heart patients at The Mayo Clinic who had an urgent need to shed major poundage before bypass surgery could be performed.

Sounds enticing to those of us who would love to lose plenty of pounds and still be able to "bypass" surgery -- liposuction surgery.

That tale is picked up on one Web site that posts the so-called Mayo diet -- the personal home page of David Miles Viers, a consultant from the Chicago area. Viers distances himself from the diet with this disclaimer: "Mayo Clinic Does NOT, I REPEAT...DOES NOT endorse this diet. They claim no responsibility and neither do I." But the next sentence offers tempting results: "In 2 1/2 Months You Should Lose 52 Pounds."

The version that Viers posted is basically three meaty meals accompanied by the magical grapefruit. The instructions assure dieters they are allowed to eat red onions, green onions and many vegetables. The only foods they're banned from eating are white onions, potatoes and -- that dreaded saboteur of weight-loss efforts -- celery. (Click here to read the version of the diet that Viers posted)

In an e-mail interview, Viers explained that he got the text of the diet instructions from his wife, who got them from a co-worker, who in turn got them by fax from a friend, and so on.

"My wife and I tried the diet and liked the results, so I posted the diet on my personal Web site because everybody we knew wanted a copy of the diet," Viers wrote. "After about 12 close friends and relatives asked me for the URL for the diet, I decided to add it to various search engines. "My only goal was to put the information out there to desperate people, like myself. What they do with the information, unfortunately, is beyond my control," Viers added.

Viers said he didn't research the medical soundness of the diet, but his wife said her friend had been told be her physician that the diet was a good one. He added that he receives several e-mails a week from people curious about the diet.

"I tell each person to talk with their doctor before trying a diet like this. In NO means am I an expert on nutrition or diet. I am just a distributor of information that people obviously are looking for," Viers said. "I am seriously thinking about getting rid of the diet from my Web site now, because I do not want to upset anyone, especially the Mayo Clinic (which is why I put that disclaimer on the Web site to begin with).

Hard To Believe

Good intentions aside, looking at the diets dos and don'ts, two problems jump out at the most casual observer:

1. The diet condones the consumption of mega-quantities of fat and cholesterol -- both artery-cloggers, not cleaners
2. The diet promises major weight loss will take place in mere days.

A more sensible approach, according to The Mayo Clinic, is to forego miracle diets promising rapid weight loss,'' in favor of sensible eating and a balanced diet with a more healthy weight-loss goal of no more than a pound a week.

A similarly sensible approach is suggested by Karen Fleischer Freeman, a practicing dietitian in La Jolla California who is associated with the American Dietetic Association.

"The only way to lose weight is to take in fewer calories than you expend," she says. You aren't doing that, she points out, if you're gorging yourself on high-calorie, high-fat foods on a diet that doesn't even address the other end of the equation. If you're taking in that many calories, she says, you're going to have to do some marathon exercising to make up.

Plain old polyunsaturated common sense should tell you these claims are 100 percent bogus. Eating lots of anything, especially the bacon that's not only tolerated but actually highly recommended, rarely leads to weight loss.

Also suspicious is the Mayo diet's heavy reliance upon the ingestion of grapefruit.

The grapefruit is supposed to act as a catalyst to ignite the fat burning process. There is no medical evidence to support this thesis, says Freeman. but then, there is no evidence supporting any other aspect of this diet either.

"This is (the Atkins diet) revisited," she said, adding that she knows of no legitimate dietitian who would recommend gorging on a high-fat food while passing up vegetables known to contain vitamins and other beneficial nutrients. Another problem, experts say, eating only meat and grapefruit means forgoing foods high in fiber, and fiber has proven health benefits.

Not Entirely Worthless

Is there anyone who could benefit from this plan?

Well, says Freeman, "Maybe someone stuck at the Antarctic who gets a shipload of grapefruits every month and doesn't have anything else to eat except, maybe all the bear or beaver he can shoot."

To sum up, it's unclear how this diet took on the name "Mayo Clinic," but what is clear is that the real Mayo Clinic wants you to know it has no connection whatsoever with the diet that bears its name.

Perhaps the creators of this diet, so in love with fat and cholesterol, meant to call it "The Mayonnaise Clinic Diet." That sure would have made the folks at The Mayo Clinic a lot happier.

This diet offers no variety of food choice. There is no balance in the amount of food you're allowed to eat from the various food groups, and there is no consideration given to the always sage advice that moderation is a good thing.

Is there a diet or weight-loss product you'd like us to scrutinize? E-mail your tip to dietdetective@ibsys.com.