A detox diet might be the quick way of getting rid of those love handles, but according to health experts, the "hydration diet" is dangerous and must be avoided.
The stark warning comes after a mother suffered a massive epileptic fit brought on by severe sodium deficiency just one week into a hydration diet.
As part of the regime under nutritionist Barbara Nash, Dawn Page, 52, had to drink an extra four pints of water a day and cut down on salt.
Within days Page started vomiting uncontrollably, but Nash said that it was all "part of the detoxification process".
Nash even urged Page to up her water intake to six pints a day and cut salt further, it has been claimed.
The mother of two, from Faringdon near Swindon, then suffered a massive epileptic fit and was rushed to intensive care, but doctors could not prevent permanent brain injury.
"Diets such as these are in no way a safe or recommended method of weight loss, and should be avoided at all costs," the Daily Express quoted dietician Nigel Denby, as saying
"They simply send the body into starvation mode, meaning the metabolic rate slows down and very little body fat is burned," Denby added.
Page went on the diet in 2001 weighing 12st and was left with epilepsy and a "cognitive deficit" after following the Detox diet.
At the High Court in London she secured a 810,000 pounds payout from her nutritionist's insurers.
Tags: detox diet, hydration diet, nutritionist, brain, weight loss, dietician, sodium, body fat.
