No. The Review, Study and Positioning Group of theSpanish Association of Dietitians-Nutritionistsstrongly discourages the weight loss “method” or “diet” proposed by Pierre Dukan, considering it ineffective, fraudulent andpotentially dangerous. This opinion is based on six considerations regarding said “diet” or “method”, among them the absence of scientific foundation and the erroneous attribution of slimming capacity to dietary proteins.
According to the experts, none of the Spanish or international scientific databases (Elsevier, Excelenciaclinica.net, Clinical Practice Guides in the National Health System, Scielo, Scirus, ScienceDirect, clinicaltrials.gov, PubMed …) contains any studies. that refers to this diet or supports its efficacy or safety. Also, the “diet” or “method” Dukanmeets the characteristics of a fraudulent dietwhich, according to the American Dietetic Association and the Spanish Association of Dietitians-Nutritionists, are, among others, promise “quick” and “magical” results, prohibit the consumption of a food or food group, and contain lists of “good” foods “or” bad. Furthermore, a systematic review of the literature published in 2003 concluded that no there is evidence that a diet with a higher protein content helps with weight loss(contrary to what is proposed by the Dukan “method”). A more recent study, which randomly assigned 811 overweight adults to four diets with different percentages of macronutrients, concluded that the weight loss is justified by the length of time the diet is followed and by the calories that are not ingested, not by the distribution of these macronutrients.
The authors of the report also emphasize thathigh dietary protein intake is not without risks. On the one hand, a follow-up of the feeding of 22,944 adults for 10 years showed that the cProlonged consumption of low-carbohydrate, high-protein diets is associated with an increase in total mortality. In addition, high protein intake has been associated with chronic diseases such as osteoporosis, kidney stones, kidney failure, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and obesity.
As if this were not enough, in an extensive document published in November 2010, the French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Safety (ANSES) points out that the so-called Dukan diet can lead tonutritional imbalancesand it can be highly risky as it could involvesomatic, psychological, hormonal, growth or performance disturbances.
