Health experts are concerned for obese Australian teenagers aged 13 to 17 who are participating in a weight-loss trial as it could lead to serious psychological harm and trigger eating disorders.
The trial, which has been named Fast Track To Health or FTTH, is being conducted in Sydney and Melbourne hospitals and sees the teenagers being put on stringent fasting plans for one year where they will, at times, only be consuming one-quarter of their recommended daily energy intake.
Louise Adams, who is a clinical psychologist with over 18 years’ experience, sent a letter, signed by 29 health professionals, to the ethics panel that approved the trial saying “behaviours like skipping meals, fasting and taking shakes are things that really shrink your calorie intake - this is extreme dieting and it’s related to eating disorder development.”
However, the FTTH principal researcher, Professor Louise Baur, said the trial is comparing two different diets to “try [and] work out if one is more superior than the other in terms of helping with health, wellbeing, eating behaviour, weight status and so on” and that any risks associated with the trial are “minimal and manageable”.