Would you take dieting advice from a man who has branded the obese as "mentally ill"?
If you have tried the smash-hit Dukan diet, you already have.
Dr Pierre Dukan, the millionaire author behind the best-selling nutrition books has said that the heavily overweight have "a mental problem".
He told the Mail on Sunday's You magazine: "I've never seen an obese person who has said, 'I am well in the mind.'"
The infamous doctor admits that he feels for the audience to which his books are targeted. "I suffer for them ... I like them because they are not really ill, like with the cancer, but feel they are outside of society.... I want to help."
He suggested that love may be the best dieting mechanism around (besides his plan, we presume): "Happiness stops food being a compensation. If you love a man, immediately you will reduce your intake of food - it's automatic."
The Duchess of Cambridge's Berkshire-based mother, Carole Middleton, reportedly lost 34lbs using the controversial Dukan method, which sees a high-protein intake based around 100 permitted foods, with dieters instructed to phase the programme around four 'pillars'.
Launched in France in 2000, The Dukan Diet hit Australian bookshops in 2010 and has gone on to sell over 100,000 copies.
Similar to the equally contentious Atkins diet, as well as ketogenic and Weight Watchers diets, the programme has drawn wide-spread criticism, not least from French, British and American health bodies.
The diet was ranked 24th out of 25 in a best diets of 2012 list drawn up by US News and Health Report. Blasted for being too restrictive and rule-driven as well as bereft of medical evidence, one expert went as far as labelling the plan "idiotic".
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Diet guru claims obese are 'mentally ill'
