0:00:05 > 0:00:07Everyone wants to be thin.
0:00:07 > 0:00:11It means beauty, success, desirability,
0:00:11 > 0:00:14and yet, 60% of us are overweight.
0:00:16 > 0:00:18In the middle of an obesity crisis,
0:00:18 > 0:00:22the multi-billion pound weight-loss business is bigger than ever.
0:00:22 > 0:00:27We have people spending billions of dollars of their money to look trim.
0:00:29 > 0:00:33I'm Jacques Peretti, and in this series I'm going to investigate
0:00:33 > 0:00:34the men who've made their fortunes
0:00:34 > 0:00:38by selling us the dream of being thin through diets,
0:00:38 > 0:00:40and left us fatter than ever.
0:00:40 > 0:00:43The diet industry makes an enormous amount of money
0:00:43 > 0:00:46and yet, has very little success to show for that money.
0:00:47 > 0:00:50- I'll ask the diet billionaires... - Cheers.- Cheers.
0:00:50 > 0:00:53..how they justify their enormous profits.
0:00:53 > 0:00:55You sell hope to people
0:00:55 > 0:00:57that they will never achieve, and that is...
0:00:57 > 0:00:59Wait a minute! Whoa, whoa, whoa!
0:00:59 > 0:01:02Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!
0:01:02 > 0:01:05And how the diet super-brands justify their low success rate.
0:01:05 > 0:01:08Is it everything we would want? No.
0:01:08 > 0:01:10But then, what's the alternative?
0:01:10 > 0:01:13The alternative is doing nothing.
0:01:13 > 0:01:16I'll look at how the diet industry was first created,
0:01:16 > 0:01:19and the secrets that keep us coming back.
0:01:19 > 0:01:24They have based multi-million dollar empires on false promises.
0:01:40 > 0:01:43Welcome to weight loss 2013-style.
0:01:43 > 0:01:46Oh, that is really not pleasant.
0:01:49 > 0:01:51First, take a cold bath.
0:01:51 > 0:01:54Aah!
0:01:55 > 0:01:57Replace breakfast with...
0:01:57 > 0:01:59black coffee.
0:02:02 > 0:02:05And flatten your stomach by blowing up balloons.
0:02:05 > 0:02:10That is a key part of this new fad diet - Six Weeks To OMG.
0:02:10 > 0:02:14Blowing up a balloon in order to tighten your stomach muscles.
0:02:15 > 0:02:19'These gimmicks helped Six Weeks To OMG get noticed
0:02:19 > 0:02:22'in a market where competition is fierce...'
0:02:22 > 0:02:23Oh, look at me back then.
0:02:23 > 0:02:27So much has changed - my weight's been up and down...
0:02:27 > 0:02:31'..with rival diets constantly pushed in glossy TV and web adverts,
0:02:31 > 0:02:34often fronted by celebrities.
0:02:34 > 0:02:37So, my advice is to lighten up with Lighter Life Lite.
0:02:37 > 0:02:40I'm always eating out, so the ProPoints tracker
0:02:40 > 0:02:43helps me keep tabs on how much I'm eating.
0:02:43 > 0:02:47In just four and a half months, I'd lost 33 pounds.
0:02:47 > 0:02:5227 million of us in the UK have tried to diet in the last year,
0:02:52 > 0:02:56counting calories even if we're not overweight.
0:02:56 > 0:02:58So, how many diets have you been on?
0:02:58 > 0:02:59I've been on quite a few.
0:02:59 > 0:03:03I've been on Slimming World, Lighter Life, Weight Watchers.
0:03:03 > 0:03:06I think one of the worst I ever did was the Mars Bar diet,
0:03:06 > 0:03:08where you only eat Mars Bars.
0:03:08 > 0:03:10Do you know how many calories you've got in your lunch?
0:03:10 > 0:03:13It's about 250 calories.
0:03:13 > 0:03:16Cheese sandwich, roughly around 500/600 calories.
0:03:16 > 0:03:18Do you know how many calories are in that?
0:03:18 > 0:03:21It's 330 calories, and I believe it's 1.6 saturated fat.
0:03:21 > 0:03:24Wow, that's pretty accurate.
0:03:25 > 0:03:29Every single person counts calories or is on a diet.
0:03:29 > 0:03:33Even though not a single person I spoke to was overweight.
0:03:33 > 0:03:35Everyone is self-policing.
0:03:37 > 0:03:40So, how do you turn this obsession into money?
0:03:40 > 0:03:43Six Weeks TO OMG, with its snappy title,
0:03:43 > 0:03:47cold baths and balloons, seems to have one answer.
0:03:47 > 0:03:51It's turned its British author into a global diet phenomenon.
0:03:51 > 0:03:54'A new diet plan has popped up across the pond.
0:03:54 > 0:03:58'Six Weeks To OMG - Get Skinnier Than All Your Friends
0:03:58 > 0:04:02'is a new diet book written by Venice A Fulton.'
0:04:03 > 0:04:06Venice Fulton, an actor turned personal trainer,
0:04:06 > 0:04:10now has a seven-figure publishing deal in America.
0:04:10 > 0:04:13But not everyone is convinced by the marketing.
0:04:13 > 0:04:16I think this is absolutely one of the worst fad diets I have ever seen,
0:04:16 > 0:04:20because it's targeting young people - it's targeting teens.
0:04:20 > 0:04:24In the UK, this ad for the diet was banned.
0:04:24 > 0:04:26It was considered irresponsible
0:04:26 > 0:04:29for encouraging teenagers to adopt unhealthy eating habits.
0:04:31 > 0:04:34So, is Venice deliberately targeting the teen market?
0:04:34 > 0:04:38Are they the next frontier for the diet industry?
0:04:38 > 0:04:41Who is this book marketed at?
0:04:41 > 0:04:44Who is this book written for?
0:04:44 > 0:04:46Everyone.
0:04:46 > 0:04:47Everyone who needs...
0:04:47 > 0:04:51Everyone who considers themselves in need of losing body fat
0:04:51 > 0:04:53and improving their health.
0:04:53 > 0:04:54Right.
0:04:54 > 0:04:58In the book it says, you shouldn't talk to your parents about it,
0:04:58 > 0:05:00you shouldn't talk to doctors about it
0:05:00 > 0:05:06and you should buy some scales and hide them from your parents.
0:05:06 > 0:05:09- Right.- Do you think that's a responsible thing
0:05:09 > 0:05:11to be telling teenage girls?
0:05:11 > 0:05:13Remember, I'm not targeting teenage girls.
0:05:13 > 0:05:15The thing about scales...
0:05:15 > 0:05:18Why do you keep saying it's not for teenage girls? Who's it for then?
0:05:18 > 0:05:20- It's for everyone. - Oh, it's for everyone? Right.
0:05:20 > 0:05:22You know, adults have parents too.
0:05:22 > 0:05:24Right.
0:05:24 > 0:05:25The weighing scales thing
0:05:25 > 0:05:28is simply about avoiding other people using your scales
0:05:28 > 0:05:29in terms of accuracy.
0:05:29 > 0:05:32Mm. You say on the cover, "Being skinnier than your friends,"
0:05:32 > 0:05:35so, you clearly know how a teenage girl defines skinny.
0:05:35 > 0:05:39They define it in terms of their friends, in terms of other people.
0:05:39 > 0:05:44Well, let's just say that two out of three of us are obese - sorry,
0:05:44 > 0:05:46not obese - overweight, heavier than we need to be.
0:05:46 > 0:05:48Being skinnier than your friends
0:05:48 > 0:05:50is simply being the one person out of the three
0:05:50 > 0:05:53who is making a conscious effort to be mindful of health,
0:05:53 > 0:05:55that's all that's about.
0:05:57 > 0:05:59Extreme diets like this,
0:05:59 > 0:06:03often justify themselves as a solution to obesity,
0:06:03 > 0:06:05but they're not working.
0:06:05 > 0:06:08The more diets we undertake, the fatter we're getting.
0:06:11 > 0:06:15So, what exactly is the relationship of the diet industry to obesity?
0:06:16 > 0:06:17In America's Midwest,
0:06:17 > 0:06:20new research at the University Of Minnesota
0:06:20 > 0:06:22has uncovered the truth.
0:06:22 > 0:06:25In this study you're going to watch an 18-minute film.
0:06:25 > 0:06:27Psychologist Professor Traci Mann
0:06:27 > 0:06:29is researching eating behaviour
0:06:29 > 0:06:32for the US National Institute Of Health, and NASA.
0:06:32 > 0:06:34- And these are for you.- Thank you.
0:06:34 > 0:06:37She's looked at over 100 clinical studies of diets,
0:06:37 > 0:06:38stretching back 30 years.
0:06:40 > 0:06:43Her research is the most comprehensive study
0:06:43 > 0:06:46of commercial weight loss ever undertaken.
0:06:47 > 0:06:51After having looked at all these diets and evaluated them,
0:06:51 > 0:06:54would you say that diets work, or not?
0:06:54 > 0:06:56No, I would not say that diets work.
0:06:56 > 0:06:59If by work, you mean do you lose a significant amount of weight
0:06:59 > 0:07:00and keep it off for a long time?
0:07:00 > 0:07:02No, I would not say that diets work.
0:07:02 > 0:07:06We found that, on average, the amount of weight they lost
0:07:06 > 0:07:08over two to five years
0:07:08 > 0:07:12was under one kilogram, on average.
0:07:12 > 0:07:14- Under one.- That's extraordinary.
0:07:14 > 0:07:16Yeah, we were shocked.
0:07:16 > 0:07:17We were shocked.
0:07:17 > 0:07:21With a diet, it comes off and then it slowly comes back on.
0:07:21 > 0:07:26From one- to two-thirds of all the dieters regained more than they lost.
0:07:26 > 0:07:28So, with all diets, regardless of what kind of diet,
0:07:28 > 0:07:30the pattern seems to be the same.
0:07:30 > 0:07:33You lose the weight and then you regain the weight
0:07:33 > 0:07:34and probably a little bit more.
0:07:34 > 0:07:37- So, you're actually better off not going on a diet?- Yes.
0:07:37 > 0:07:39I completely believe that.
0:07:39 > 0:07:42The diet industry makes an enormous amount of money,
0:07:42 > 0:07:46and yet, there's very little success to show for that money.
0:07:51 > 0:07:52Professor Mann was damning,
0:07:52 > 0:07:56but amazingly, she isn't the first scientist in Minnesota
0:07:56 > 0:07:59to uncover the problems with diets.
0:08:00 > 0:08:01Over 60 years ago,
0:08:01 > 0:08:04before the modern diet industry had even begun,
0:08:04 > 0:08:07scientists here were already examining the effect
0:08:07 > 0:08:09of cutting calories on the body.
0:08:12 > 0:08:17In 1944 an experiment took place here at the football stadium
0:08:17 > 0:08:20at the University Of Minnesota.
0:08:20 > 0:08:2336 men volunteered to live on a diet
0:08:23 > 0:08:27of just 1500 calories a day for six months.
0:08:28 > 0:08:33It was done to find out what happens to the human body when it's starved.
0:08:39 > 0:08:40The experiment was run
0:08:40 > 0:08:43by the world's leading nutritionist, Ancel Keys.
0:08:45 > 0:08:48The American government wanted to understand the effect
0:08:48 > 0:08:52malnutrition would have on war-torn Europe.
0:08:52 > 0:08:56The men were housed in windowless rooms beneath the stadium.
0:08:56 > 0:09:00They were given a programme of mental and physical exercises
0:09:00 > 0:09:03and monitored throughout.
0:09:03 > 0:09:08Their diet of just over 1,500 calories was strictly controlled.
0:09:08 > 0:09:10Being starved made them lose weight,
0:09:10 > 0:09:14but it also had profound psychological effects on them.
0:09:14 > 0:09:17This is an extract from one of the volunteers' diaries.
0:09:17 > 0:09:20"April 24th 1945.
0:09:20 > 0:09:23"I'm beginning to want to isolate myself from the other subjects,
0:09:23 > 0:09:27"who are developing all kinds of weird behaviours.
0:09:27 > 0:09:29"Everyone seems to be losing their interpersonal skills
0:09:29 > 0:09:32"and starvation is less than half over."
0:09:38 > 0:09:42One of them bit one of the other volunteers.
0:09:42 > 0:09:44Many tried to escape from the compound
0:09:44 > 0:09:47to eat grass from nearby gardens.
0:09:47 > 0:09:49Another became so deranged
0:09:49 > 0:09:51that he chopped three of his fingers off with an axe.
0:09:54 > 0:09:58I mean, this is what a diet based on half of a normal calorie intake
0:09:58 > 0:10:01did to these people, in less than six months.
0:10:04 > 0:10:07But Keys' most important discovery for the diet industry,
0:10:07 > 0:10:11was what happened after the diet ended.
0:10:11 > 0:10:14When Keys started feeding them again after six months,
0:10:14 > 0:10:17he noticed something totally unexpected.
0:10:17 > 0:10:20They rapidly put on weight, but not only did that,
0:10:20 > 0:10:23they actually gained more weight than they had been originally.
0:10:23 > 0:10:25Dieting had actually made them fatter.
0:10:27 > 0:10:30What would you say the significance of the Keys' study was
0:10:30 > 0:10:33in terms of what we know about diets today?
0:10:33 > 0:10:37Basically, I think of it as the first diet study.
0:10:37 > 0:10:41The more I look at his books, the more I'm amazed
0:10:41 > 0:10:46at how much he figured out about how diets work, back then.
0:10:48 > 0:10:52Keys showed that trying to lose weight long term by dieting
0:10:52 > 0:10:54wouldn't work for the vast majority of people.
0:10:58 > 0:11:00So, how did the diet industry
0:11:00 > 0:11:04convince us to keep buying their diet products for the next 60 years?
0:11:06 > 0:11:11The answer lies in an insurance office in Manhattan.
0:11:13 > 0:11:16Decades before there was a real obesity epidemic,
0:11:16 > 0:11:17one man made a decision
0:11:17 > 0:11:21that would change the way the world perceives its shape.
0:11:21 > 0:11:23That man was Louis Dublin.
0:11:24 > 0:11:27He was the chief statistician of what was, at the time,
0:11:27 > 0:11:29the biggest insurance company in the world -
0:11:29 > 0:11:34Metropolitan Life - who were reviewing their premiums.
0:11:39 > 0:11:42In the early 1940s, Dublin made a remarkable discovery
0:11:42 > 0:11:46whilst analysing the records of four million Met Life customers.
0:11:47 > 0:11:51He compared the age they died with the weight they were
0:11:51 > 0:11:53when they first took out their policy
0:11:53 > 0:11:55and concluded that if you were overweight,
0:11:55 > 0:11:57you were far more likely to die young.
0:12:00 > 0:12:01Dublin drew up a chart
0:12:01 > 0:12:04to show how much he thought customers should weigh
0:12:04 > 0:12:06to avoid an early death.
0:12:06 > 0:12:10He based it on their weight between the ages of 25 and 30.
0:12:11 > 0:12:14In effect, what Dublin did was to make the weigh
0:12:14 > 0:12:17at which you're considered too heavy much lower.
0:12:18 > 0:12:20Instead of just a few people...
0:12:21 > 0:12:24suddenly, half the American population
0:12:24 > 0:12:26was reclassified as overweight.
0:12:32 > 0:12:35But the effect on America was profound.
0:12:35 > 0:12:37At the stroke of a pen,
0:12:37 > 0:12:40normal, healthy Americans had a weight problem.
0:12:40 > 0:12:43His redefinition of much of America as overweight
0:12:43 > 0:12:46was adopted by the medical establishment
0:12:46 > 0:12:49and then the US Government.
0:12:49 > 0:12:51America was now officially fat.
0:12:54 > 0:12:57Joel Gurin has examined how Dublin's ideas
0:12:57 > 0:13:00influenced the creation of the modern diet industry.
0:13:04 > 0:13:08Louis Dublin was probably more responsible than any one individual
0:13:08 > 0:13:11for our modern notions of, quote-unquote,
0:13:11 > 0:13:14"ideal weight" or "desirable weight".
0:13:14 > 0:13:18But it wasn't based on any kind of scientific study at all,
0:13:18 > 0:13:22and Dublin, essentially, looked at his data
0:13:22 > 0:13:24and just arbitrarily decided
0:13:24 > 0:13:26that he would take the desirable weight -
0:13:26 > 0:13:29or what appeared to him to be the desirable weight -
0:13:29 > 0:13:32for people who were aged 25, and apply it to everybody.
0:13:32 > 0:13:34Well, I'm a little bit older than 25,
0:13:34 > 0:13:38if I could weigh what I did when I was 25, I'd probably be happy.
0:13:38 > 0:13:40The human body doesn't work that way.
0:13:40 > 0:13:44So, think now about the cultural impact that these tables have.
0:13:44 > 0:13:47So, here are these tables that you now start seeing
0:13:47 > 0:13:49on every scale in every drug store,
0:13:49 > 0:13:52that say, "This is your ideal weight."
0:13:52 > 0:13:55So, if you're somebody who's naturally a little heavier than that,
0:13:55 > 0:13:59if you're somebody who's 30 years older than age 25,
0:13:59 > 0:14:02all of a sudden, you are overweight.
0:14:02 > 0:14:06All of sudden, you look at that table and there's something wrong with you,
0:14:06 > 0:14:09when there may be absolutely nothing wrong with you at all.
0:14:09 > 0:14:12What did that do to the American state of mind?
0:14:12 > 0:14:16What did it do to ordinary people's perception of themselves?
0:14:16 > 0:14:22It set in stone the dieting goals that helped fuel the diet industry.
0:14:22 > 0:14:25Made millions of people ashamed of their bodies.
0:14:25 > 0:14:28And also led millions and millions of doctors
0:14:28 > 0:14:32to tell their patients that they needed to lose weight,
0:14:32 > 0:14:33that they needed to diet,
0:14:33 > 0:14:35when that may not have been the best thing for them.
0:14:37 > 0:14:40America's sense of itself was transformed overnight.
0:14:40 > 0:14:42The belief they had a weight problem
0:14:42 > 0:14:45was burnt in to the nation's consciousness.
0:14:46 > 0:14:50Met Life was such a massive and respected company,
0:14:50 > 0:14:54that this new definition of being overweight set a ball rolling.
0:14:54 > 0:14:57The US government adopted the Met Life standard
0:14:57 > 0:15:01and mass neurosis spread across the nation that people were
0:15:01 > 0:15:05overweight, rushing to their pharmacies and doctors in panic.
0:15:09 > 0:15:13People were now neurotic about their weight and wanted to lose it,
0:15:13 > 0:15:18creating a huge market of consumers, convinced they were too fat.
0:15:18 > 0:15:20But the screw was about to tighten.
0:15:20 > 0:15:23This sense of inadequacy was reinforced by fashion,
0:15:23 > 0:15:27when Christian Dior launched his new look in 1947.
0:15:30 > 0:15:33The look demanded a 17-inch waist.
0:15:33 > 0:15:38It dominated fashion, not just that year, but long into the 1950s,
0:15:38 > 0:15:41creating an unattainable goal that few women could achieve.
0:15:42 > 0:15:44'How to get the new look, even if
0:15:44 > 0:15:48Mother Nature forgot to give you the right figure for it.'
0:15:53 > 0:15:57Yet, beneath the surface of suburban America,
0:15:57 > 0:15:59something profound was going on,
0:15:59 > 0:16:02laying the foundation for the diet industry.
0:16:02 > 0:16:06For millions of women, affluence had led not to happiness,
0:16:06 > 0:16:12but depression, expressed through dissatisfaction about their bodies.
0:16:12 > 0:16:16And in this unhappiness, big business saw an opportunity.
0:16:19 > 0:16:23This was the defining moment of post-war American capitalism,
0:16:23 > 0:16:27when corporate America realised that to sell the impossible dream
0:16:27 > 0:16:29would generate unimaginable profits.
0:16:33 > 0:16:37The problem of a nation being overweight had been invented,
0:16:37 > 0:16:41and now the diet industry was going to sell us the solution.
0:16:44 > 0:16:47'One out of two adults is overweight,
0:16:47 > 0:16:50'and because overweight not only detracts from appearance
0:16:50 > 0:16:53'but impairs health and shortens life, you lose weight...'
0:16:53 > 0:16:58The first mass-market diet product was launched in 1959.
0:16:58 > 0:16:59It was called Metrecal.
0:17:01 > 0:17:05Each can contained 200 calories, and the contents had
0:17:05 > 0:17:08a startling resemblance to baby milk formula.
0:17:09 > 0:17:16'..Each can is a low calorie meal. Simply open, pour and drink.
0:17:16 > 0:17:17'By any standard...'
0:17:17 > 0:17:21The idea was that you had Metrecal for breakfast and lunch
0:17:21 > 0:17:23and thanks to knowing the exact number of calories,
0:17:23 > 0:17:26you could monitor your intake.
0:17:26 > 0:17:27You could even eat an evening meal.
0:17:27 > 0:17:31'If you are the one out of every two adults who is overweight,
0:17:31 > 0:17:32'try Metrecal soon.'
0:17:35 > 0:17:39Metrecal used Dublin's flawed statistics to persuade people
0:17:39 > 0:17:40they needed the product.
0:17:42 > 0:17:46By using these charts, Metrecal were convincing more people that they
0:17:46 > 0:17:50had a weight problem, so they could sell them the solution.
0:17:54 > 0:17:58One of the first female copywriters on Madison Avenue was Jane Maas.
0:18:00 > 0:18:03She was charged with putting Metrecal in every kitchen
0:18:03 > 0:18:04in America.
0:18:06 > 0:18:10We came up with the idea that Metrecal was something
0:18:10 > 0:18:15that would be fun to have for lunch every day - a way of life.
0:18:15 > 0:18:18Men and women drinking it together.
0:18:18 > 0:18:20So it became almost a party.
0:18:20 > 0:18:22# There's a change in the weather
0:18:22 > 0:18:25# There's a change in the sea
0:18:25 > 0:18:29# And with Metrecal there's been a change in me...#
0:18:29 > 0:18:31It was almost like a cocktail party.
0:18:31 > 0:18:34People were mixing up these Metrecal things like you were mixing up
0:18:34 > 0:18:36a Martini, and toasting each other.
0:18:36 > 0:18:38And the men were all handsome and slim,
0:18:38 > 0:18:40and the women were all beautiful and slim.
0:18:40 > 0:18:44And this campaign was a breakthrough -
0:18:44 > 0:18:47it was the first time dieting had been presented.
0:18:47 > 0:18:53A way of life - a sexy way of life - and it was a huge, huge success.
0:18:53 > 0:18:54It ran for years.
0:18:54 > 0:18:57'For a beautiful change, Metrecal Shake,
0:18:57 > 0:18:59'the instant powder diet you mix with milk...'
0:18:59 > 0:19:02In Jane's new ads, Metrecal was aspirational.
0:19:02 > 0:19:06The people buying it were thin, the overweight didn't feature.
0:19:06 > 0:19:09'..Full of vitamins and protein, for a beautiful change.'
0:19:09 > 0:19:12# There'll be some changes made. #
0:19:13 > 0:19:15Do you feel now that, in some ways,
0:19:15 > 0:19:20what you did was to blame for this world we now live in?
0:19:20 > 0:19:25I don't think the advertising business really created
0:19:25 > 0:19:29the necessity of being slim but I think we fanned it.
0:19:29 > 0:19:35I think it was there and because of all this advertising saying,
0:19:35 > 0:19:39"Look how gorgeous you could be. Look how good you'll feel about yourself.
0:19:39 > 0:19:43"Look how attractive you're going to be to the opposite sex."
0:19:44 > 0:19:47Metrecal soon had hundreds of imitators.
0:19:47 > 0:19:50The quick-fix calorie diet industry was born,
0:19:50 > 0:19:53providing an instant solution
0:19:53 > 0:19:56to the invented problem of America's weight crisis.
0:20:00 > 0:20:03While consumers swallowed the low calorie message,
0:20:03 > 0:20:06scientists who were studying weight loss were becoming
0:20:06 > 0:20:09convinced there was a problem with it.
0:20:10 > 0:20:13Professor Jules Hirsch has been
0:20:13 > 0:20:16at the forefront of obesity research for 50 years.
0:20:17 > 0:20:21In 1959, at Rockefeller University in New York,
0:20:21 > 0:20:24he carried out a ground-breaking study.
0:20:24 > 0:20:26He wanted to find out how and why
0:20:26 > 0:20:29the human metabolism is transformed by dieting.
0:20:29 > 0:20:34Take me back to when you first did this study.
0:20:34 > 0:20:39Well, our people would lose 50, 60 pounds over a long period of time,
0:20:39 > 0:20:42on a radically reduced diet.
0:20:42 > 0:20:46Now, I saw fat people losing weight to normal,
0:20:46 > 0:20:51but they were showing the same symptoms, or changes,
0:20:51 > 0:20:54that people who were normal show when they starved,
0:20:54 > 0:20:56which seemed very odd.
0:20:56 > 0:20:59I would've of course thought that if an obese person can be
0:20:59 > 0:21:03reduced, everything would be better and goodbye, problem.
0:21:05 > 0:21:07When their weight fell to normal,
0:21:07 > 0:21:11the overweight subjects did something totally unexpected -
0:21:11 > 0:21:14their brains and bodies panicked,
0:21:14 > 0:21:16believing they were starving
0:21:16 > 0:21:21and compensated by doing everything possible to put the weight back on.
0:21:21 > 0:21:23I learned that it was impossible, seemingly,
0:21:23 > 0:21:25for them to keep the weight down
0:21:25 > 0:21:30because the psyche of human starvation sets in at that point.
0:21:30 > 0:21:35It makes them seek techniques for returning to what they were before.
0:21:35 > 0:21:39And that's where diets fail - that's where it all fails.
0:21:43 > 0:21:45Hirsch had found that our biology can prevent us
0:21:45 > 0:21:47from keeping the weight off.
0:21:48 > 0:21:51He tested his findings out on some commercial diets.
0:21:55 > 0:21:59So, each new diet was looked at - what was the conclusion?
0:21:59 > 0:22:04It works for a while, but two years later they're fat again.
0:22:04 > 0:22:07Everything works for a short while, by the way.
0:22:07 > 0:22:10If I make, right now, a diet for you and say,
0:22:10 > 0:22:13the trouble with you is you don't eat enough pears,
0:22:13 > 0:22:17and when you do they must be sliced this way and not that way,
0:22:17 > 0:22:19and if you do that, you will lose weight.
0:22:19 > 0:22:23The more novel the diet - if you also have to do it whilst
0:22:23 > 0:22:27standing on one leg, when the sun is in the air, it'll work better.
0:22:27 > 0:22:30And the more intricate it is, and the more publicity there is...
0:22:30 > 0:22:32People say, "I don't know why it works, but it works."
0:22:32 > 0:22:36And after 26 weeks or so, it starts creeping back up
0:22:36 > 0:22:39and by two years you're back to where you started from.
0:22:39 > 0:22:42Why, then, when you found this out
0:22:42 > 0:22:4750 years ago that diets don't work,
0:22:47 > 0:22:48do we have a diet industry?
0:22:49 > 0:22:51I suppose...
0:22:51 > 0:22:53I mean, nothing that I did,
0:22:53 > 0:22:58or the people at Rockefeller did was in any way hidden, so it was known.
0:22:58 > 0:23:02But I don't think it had permeated the general scientific
0:23:02 > 0:23:07and the general public and industrial consciousness.
0:23:10 > 0:23:12What Professor Hirsch has just told me
0:23:12 > 0:23:15should have spelled the end of the diet industry before it even began.
0:23:15 > 0:23:18But, you know, it was almost as if it was all the scientific
0:23:18 > 0:23:20evidence they needed.
0:23:20 > 0:23:22If a diet is going to fail, long term,
0:23:22 > 0:23:26the dieter will come back to the product again and again.
0:23:27 > 0:23:31The fact people kept putting on weight and coming back turned out
0:23:31 > 0:23:35to be a good, not a bad thing, for the diet industry.
0:23:35 > 0:23:37MUSIC: "Gimme Shelter" by The Rolling Stones
0:23:39 > 0:23:43Consumers' failure was a recipe for business success.
0:23:46 > 0:23:48By the end of the 1970s,
0:23:48 > 0:23:52diet companies were turning over millions of dollars a year.
0:23:52 > 0:23:56# Oh, see the fire is sweepin'
0:23:56 > 0:23:59# At our streets today...#
0:24:01 > 0:24:03As the market became more competitive,
0:24:03 > 0:24:05the products became more extreme.
0:24:07 > 0:24:11The Last Chance Diet was particularly popular.
0:24:11 > 0:24:16People were losing up to 100 pounds by using it instead of food.
0:24:16 > 0:24:17But the high-protein drink was
0:24:17 > 0:24:20lacking essential nutrients and vitamins.
0:24:20 > 0:24:26In 1977, it began to be linked to serious health problems and death.
0:24:27 > 0:24:30Each of the victims had a low blood level of potassium,
0:24:30 > 0:24:32a condition that can lead to heart trouble.
0:24:34 > 0:24:37The inventor of the diet, Dr Robert Linn,
0:24:37 > 0:24:39denied any responsibility for any deaths.
0:24:42 > 0:24:45I don't know that you can blame that on a diet.
0:24:45 > 0:24:48People live and die under normal lifestyles,
0:24:48 > 0:24:51whether they are or are not on a programme.
0:24:52 > 0:24:54In the face of so much concern,
0:24:54 > 0:24:58the US Food and Drug Administration was forced to act.
0:24:58 > 0:25:02We are addressing this warning, in significant part,
0:25:02 > 0:25:05to a large number of people who are already using it,
0:25:05 > 0:25:07for whom it is...it is...
0:25:07 > 0:25:11We would like them - A, to stop and B, to see a doctor.
0:25:12 > 0:25:16The industry responded by adding vitamins and other nutrients
0:25:16 > 0:25:21to meal replacement drinks, and people just carried on buying them.
0:25:21 > 0:25:24I had a Slim Fast shake for breakfast, one for lunch
0:25:24 > 0:25:26and a proper meal in the evening.
0:25:26 > 0:25:28And in one week, the weight just dropped off.
0:25:28 > 0:25:31The most popular of the new versions was Slim Fast,
0:25:31 > 0:25:34sold as a natural and healthy approach to weight loss.
0:25:34 > 0:25:36'Each delicious Slim Fast shake is a nutritious,
0:25:36 > 0:25:38'low calorie meal packed with
0:25:38 > 0:25:40'vitamins, minerals, protein and fibre.'
0:25:40 > 0:25:43I lost four pounds the first week and two the second.
0:25:43 > 0:25:45I lost seven. It's a great start.
0:25:45 > 0:25:49Slim Fast was invented in 1977 by New York businessman
0:25:49 > 0:25:50Daniel Abraham.
0:25:52 > 0:25:55Abraham's strategy was to sell Slim Fast cheaper
0:25:55 > 0:25:58and make it tastier than his medicinal-tasting rivals.
0:26:00 > 0:26:02Slim Fast powder that you mix with milk.
0:26:02 > 0:26:06And then the ready-made shakes that you just shake and serve.
0:26:06 > 0:26:08- The 3-2-1 Plan.- Two shakes a day.
0:26:08 > 0:26:09- OK.- And a healthy meal.
0:26:09 > 0:26:12- Have you ever tried any of these? - Yes, these.
0:26:12 > 0:26:15- These are good. The chocolate ones. - How long did you do that for?
0:26:15 > 0:26:17- A couple of weeks.- Yeah. OK.
0:26:18 > 0:26:22This is about 40 ingredients in here,
0:26:22 > 0:26:24of which the first is sugar.
0:26:29 > 0:26:33I wanted to find out how Slim Fast became so successful.
0:26:33 > 0:26:36The company's website contains studies attesting to its short
0:26:36 > 0:26:39and medium-term effectiveness.
0:26:39 > 0:26:40But what would the founder say?
0:26:45 > 0:26:50So, we're in Palm Beach, one of the most expensive parts of Florida,
0:26:50 > 0:26:56to see the most successful diet billionaire that has ever lived -
0:26:56 > 0:26:58Daniel Abraham.
0:26:58 > 0:27:00And he lives just over there.
0:27:01 > 0:27:08When he sold the company to Unilever in 2000, they paid him £1.4 billion.
0:27:10 > 0:27:11HE GROANS
0:27:11 > 0:27:13I found him in his gym.
0:27:13 > 0:27:15HE GROANS
0:27:19 > 0:27:21Wow.
0:27:21 > 0:27:23THEY LAUGH
0:27:23 > 0:27:25Danny, it looks, to be honest...
0:27:25 > 0:27:27I think it's just a lot easier to let yourself go -
0:27:27 > 0:27:30I don't like the look of trying to stay together like you.
0:27:30 > 0:27:33Depends what you like. What else do I got to do?
0:27:33 > 0:27:35Swimming and working out and...
0:27:37 > 0:27:39..sore deeds and good friends.
0:27:42 > 0:27:44- Do you drink Slim Fast?- I do.
0:27:44 > 0:27:47See this? Look at this?
0:27:47 > 0:27:49I didn't put it there because of you.
0:27:49 > 0:27:50- Cheers!- Cheers!
0:27:55 > 0:27:57Damn, still good.
0:27:57 > 0:28:00- OK.- Let me taste it. I've never had this before.
0:28:00 > 0:28:01Really?
0:28:03 > 0:28:06- Tastes all right. - Cold is better.
0:28:06 > 0:28:09I thought it would taste terrible but it tastes OK.
0:28:09 > 0:28:11Get out of here!
0:28:11 > 0:28:13What... You didn't do your homework.
0:28:15 > 0:28:18If I went and bought a car and it didn't work,
0:28:18 > 0:28:22I could take it back to the store and say, "My car doesn't work."
0:28:22 > 0:28:25But with diets, if it doesn't work, the people blame themselves.
0:28:25 > 0:28:28So, it's like the perfect product. It's like you've insulated...
0:28:28 > 0:28:31Oh, see, you're looking at it like a business
0:28:31 > 0:28:34and you're trying to pull something over the eyes of people.
0:28:34 > 0:28:36You don't do that.
0:28:36 > 0:28:42You deliver to people everything you promised them.
0:28:42 > 0:28:43And then you will succeed.
0:28:43 > 0:28:46This is not a car that doesn't run.
0:28:46 > 0:28:50This is a programme, it's a product that does work.
0:28:50 > 0:28:52And it's very inexpensive.
0:28:54 > 0:28:58What you do is you sell to people, you know, you sell, with diets,
0:28:58 > 0:29:03with these kind of products a hope that they will never achieve.
0:29:03 > 0:29:07- And that...- Wait a minute. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!
0:29:09 > 0:29:14I just told you, it's not up to some magic,
0:29:14 > 0:29:18it's up to you to understand that your weight is
0:29:18 > 0:29:21dependent on the amount of calories you eat every day.
0:29:21 > 0:29:27I get on the scale every day. I keep my calories down.
0:29:27 > 0:29:29They lose the weight initially,
0:29:29 > 0:29:31but then they put it all back on afterwards.
0:29:31 > 0:29:35Because they don't get on a scale every day.
0:29:35 > 0:29:40And they don't eat the right balance of foods to give them the calories.
0:29:40 > 0:29:44So do you think when people put weight back on, it's really,
0:29:44 > 0:29:46we're wrong to blame the product, we should be blaming people?
0:29:46 > 0:29:48Of course.
0:29:48 > 0:29:51Most of the time people stop using the product.
0:29:51 > 0:29:56But you have to understand, it's up to you, not up to something else.
0:29:56 > 0:29:58You're in charge of you, aren't you?
0:30:13 > 0:30:20Danny's philosophy is very simple - here is a product, it works
0:30:20 > 0:30:23and if you fail on your diet, that's your fault.
0:30:23 > 0:30:24I said to him, whose fault is it?
0:30:24 > 0:30:27Is it your product or the customer if it doesn't work?
0:30:27 > 0:30:30It's the customer. It's that simple.
0:30:36 > 0:30:40The diet industry relies on the shame the overweight already
0:30:40 > 0:30:42feel about themselves.
0:30:42 > 0:30:45Their shame is the industry's guarantee of profits.
0:30:46 > 0:30:50The diet industry really has you where they want you.
0:30:50 > 0:30:53Even if somebody fails, they may not say,
0:30:53 > 0:30:55"Well, this was a lousy diet programme."
0:30:55 > 0:30:57They may say, "Well, my fault.
0:30:57 > 0:30:59"I'm not a good enough person. I'm going to try again.
0:30:59 > 0:31:01"I'm going to be better."
0:31:01 > 0:31:03Now, this has some really serious problems.
0:31:03 > 0:31:07One is that your satisfaction with your weight affects,
0:31:07 > 0:31:10not only your mental but probably your physical health.
0:31:10 > 0:31:13That if you live your life constantly feeling that
0:31:13 > 0:31:15I'm a bad person, I should weigh less,
0:31:15 > 0:31:17there's something wrong with me,
0:31:17 > 0:31:20that actually is going to be a source of stress for you.
0:31:20 > 0:31:22The other issue is that if you're susceptible to that
0:31:22 > 0:31:25kind of thinking, you're very likely to become a yo-yo dieter.
0:31:25 > 0:31:28You know, your weight goes down, goes up, goes down, goes up.
0:31:28 > 0:31:30Yo-yo dieting itself,
0:31:30 > 0:31:33is a very dangerous pattern for a couple of reasons.
0:31:33 > 0:31:38When you go on a diet, you're really putting your body through
0:31:38 > 0:31:41a metabolic roller coaster that's not good for it.
0:31:41 > 0:31:44So, you may fid that problems like hypertension become more
0:31:44 > 0:31:48prevalent as you go up and down, up and down, up and down.
0:31:48 > 0:31:50So, that whole pattern of repeated dieting,
0:31:50 > 0:31:52of people blaming themselves
0:31:52 > 0:31:55and people going through this cycle that is bad for their metabolism,
0:31:55 > 0:31:59it's a very, very bad cycle and one that, unfortunately,
0:31:59 > 0:32:01millions and millions of people fall into.
0:32:03 > 0:32:06From the beginning, the diet business relied on the guilt of the
0:32:06 > 0:32:10customer, but could never square the circle of selling a consumer
0:32:10 > 0:32:15product that promotes non-consumption and denies pleasure.
0:32:15 > 0:32:20Until 1963, when an overweight New York doctor, Robert Atkins,
0:32:20 > 0:32:26had a strange epiphany whilst watching JFK's assassination on TV.
0:32:26 > 0:32:29In so doing, he created a huge new market.
0:32:29 > 0:32:31Atkins vowed that he would lose weight,
0:32:31 > 0:32:34but he would do it eating exactly what he wanted.
0:32:35 > 0:32:39Robert Atkins developed the Atkins Diet on the idea that it was
0:32:39 > 0:32:44not how many calories you ate, but what you ate that made you fat.
0:32:44 > 0:32:47Atkins broke a plate of food down into three groups -
0:32:47 > 0:32:51fat, protein and carbohydrate.
0:32:51 > 0:32:54And concluded that if it was the carbohydrate that made you fat,
0:32:54 > 0:32:58then if you dropped the carbs, you could eat as much fat
0:32:58 > 0:33:02and protein as you want, without putting on weight.
0:33:02 > 0:33:07Atkins' diet was based on a new idea that it wasn't fat, but sugar
0:33:07 > 0:33:09and other carbohydrates like bread, rice
0:33:09 > 0:33:13and potatoes that make you put on weight.
0:33:13 > 0:33:16His book, The Diet Revolution, became a bestseller,
0:33:16 > 0:33:19shifting 100,000 copies a week.
0:33:20 > 0:33:24Atkins was the first international diet guru.
0:33:24 > 0:33:25Nice to meet you.
0:33:25 > 0:33:26Thank for your time.
0:33:26 > 0:33:30Fran Gare, one of his early devotees, worked alongside him.
0:33:31 > 0:33:36He was a bigger-than-life person, a bigger-than-life personality
0:33:36 > 0:33:38and he was a bit of a hedonist
0:33:38 > 0:33:42and he wanted it to be the easiest possible way to lose weight.
0:33:42 > 0:33:48And we know, eating bacon and mayonnaise and steak -
0:33:48 > 0:33:51that's not such a bad way to lose weight.
0:33:51 > 0:33:53So, this was the eating-man's diet.
0:33:53 > 0:33:57He came under a lot of attack from the medical establishment,
0:33:57 > 0:34:00they didn't like him, did thy? Why was that?
0:34:00 > 0:34:02Because he told them they were wrong.
0:34:02 > 0:34:05I mean, who likes to be told they're wrong?
0:34:05 > 0:34:11They all said, you have to count calories and fat is bad for you.
0:34:11 > 0:34:14And when you tell doctors that what they learned in medical
0:34:14 > 0:34:20school may not be exactly how the body works, they get angry.
0:34:23 > 0:34:27Despite the criticism, over the next 40 years Atkins built
0:34:27 > 0:34:32an empire with best-selling books and a range of low-carb foods.
0:34:32 > 0:34:35The success of the diet helped fund his lavish lifestyle,
0:34:35 > 0:34:39including a large house in the Hamptons.
0:34:39 > 0:34:42But even in the late 90s he was still defending himself
0:34:42 > 0:34:48against critics, including the US Government.
0:34:48 > 0:34:50They are bread pushers.
0:34:50 > 0:34:53And bread is a junk food - it has white flour.
0:34:53 > 0:34:55It's a junky as white sugar.
0:34:55 > 0:34:57They're pushing that.
0:34:57 > 0:35:00And they've got to be held in check.
0:35:00 > 0:35:03They should be the ones that are being reprimanded.
0:35:03 > 0:35:04They are the guilty party.
0:35:07 > 0:35:09When Atkins died in 2003,
0:35:09 > 0:35:13critics used his death to discredit his diet, saying he had become obese
0:35:13 > 0:35:17and suffered heart disease as a result of the rich food he ate.
0:35:21 > 0:35:23But the promise that you could eat as much as you like
0:35:23 > 0:35:27and still lose weight if you cut out carbs remained a popular one.
0:35:29 > 0:35:33The success of Atkins has been repeated by a Paris doctor,
0:35:33 > 0:35:34Pierre Dukan.
0:35:35 > 0:35:39In 2010, his book became the best-selling diet in the UK,
0:35:39 > 0:35:41getting a further boost when it was reported that
0:35:41 > 0:35:46members of Kate Middleton's family had used it to slim for her wedding.
0:35:47 > 0:35:51I wanted Dukan to explain the medical science
0:35:51 > 0:35:54behind his globally successful low-carb diet.
0:35:55 > 0:35:59- Pierre, I'm Jack. Nice to meet you. - Nice to know you, Jack.
0:35:59 > 0:36:01Be here with me in my home.
0:36:03 > 0:36:07I collect everything I find in the street.
0:36:07 > 0:36:10I can do like that, or you can do like that!
0:36:11 > 0:36:14Despite running his £80 million business,
0:36:14 > 0:36:19Dukan still has time for his hobby - making art from found objects.
0:36:20 > 0:36:24I am looking for a second one like that, to have a breast,
0:36:24 > 0:36:29- chest of a woman.- Right.- It looks like, uh...- So you need another bell?
0:36:29 > 0:36:31But it's an old-fashioned one, I can't find it.
0:36:31 > 0:36:33But one day, I will find it.
0:36:34 > 0:36:39- Tell me what your diet is, Pierre. - Yeah, my diet is very simple.
0:36:39 > 0:36:44That's the first key. Two...one in red food.
0:36:44 > 0:36:4972 coming in proteins, the meats, the fish, the seafood, eggs and so on.
0:36:49 > 0:36:56And 28 coming from vegetables. That makes 100, and that's your treasure.
0:36:56 > 0:37:00- That's your treasure, right. OK. - It's very well-structured, organised.
0:37:00 > 0:37:06Two phases. To lose weight, and two, to conserve it. Right? Not to regain.
0:37:06 > 0:37:09'Dukan has expanded massively beyond his diet,
0:37:09 > 0:37:14'creating a business built on books, foods, and health supplements.
0:37:14 > 0:37:17'And his company makes some miraculous claims for one
0:37:17 > 0:37:19'product in particular.'
0:37:19 > 0:37:24Devorcal's advertised on your website as a miracle calorie burner.
0:37:24 > 0:37:26So, what does it do?
0:37:26 > 0:37:29How does it burn these calories in a miraculous way?
0:37:31 > 0:37:35First, I have to say that you ask me the question, scientifically,
0:37:35 > 0:37:39I can answer to you. But it's not me who developed and made the products.
0:37:39 > 0:37:44- All the products are made by the company.- But which company is that?
0:37:44 > 0:37:46It's a company of the Regime Dukan.
0:37:46 > 0:37:48But you are Dukan, it's your name,
0:37:48 > 0:37:52- and you don't know what the product does?- Yes, I can tell you.
0:37:52 > 0:37:57Devorcal, it's a mixture of vinegar, cider vinegar...
0:37:57 > 0:37:58- Cider vinegar?- ..Extract.
0:37:58 > 0:38:04- Right.- And pectin of apple. In apple, it's just like in grape.
0:38:04 > 0:38:06With grape we make...
0:38:06 > 0:38:08We make wine and with wine we have flavenoids
0:38:08 > 0:38:11and many things very good for the health.
0:38:11 > 0:38:15And with apple, it's not our tradition,
0:38:15 > 0:38:17the French tradition is wine.
0:38:17 > 0:38:21But the English tradition, the British tradition, works on apple.
0:38:21 > 0:38:23More than us.
0:38:23 > 0:38:27In many, many traditions, they use vinegar to be thinner.
0:38:29 > 0:38:31And so it's traditional.
0:38:31 > 0:38:36- And English people say, two apples a day makes the doctor away.- Yeah.
0:38:36 > 0:38:39And they are not wrong. And it helps a lot.
0:38:39 > 0:38:42It's not a miracle, but it helps.
0:38:45 > 0:38:48The science behind the "miracle calorie burner" was one thing,
0:38:48 > 0:38:51but what about Dukan's diet?
0:38:51 > 0:38:54I wanted to know whether it worked, long-term.
0:38:54 > 0:38:57After all, so many other diets have poor success rates.
0:39:01 > 0:39:03How does your diet compare?
0:39:03 > 0:39:05I have statistics.
0:39:05 > 0:39:10ERm... 100 people buy a book,
0:39:10 > 0:39:1450% lose the weight they wanted to lose.
0:39:16 > 0:39:18And on these 50,
0:39:18 > 0:39:21half - that means 25 -
0:39:21 > 0:39:24keep the weight after four years.
0:39:24 > 0:39:26That means 25%.
0:39:26 > 0:39:28Right. One in four?
0:39:28 > 0:39:31Do you think, Pierre, that people know that diets fail?
0:39:31 > 0:39:35The viewers watching this programme, they do diets even though they know
0:39:35 > 0:39:39that it's going to fail and that they're going to do another one.
0:39:41 > 0:39:45You ask me if people know that they are fail...?
0:39:45 > 0:39:49- But they still do it anyway. - You're right. I think that it's true.
0:39:50 > 0:39:55Because it's not only the diet. The diet is a tool.
0:39:55 > 0:40:01But if you use only the tool, without the philosophy, the life,
0:40:01 > 0:40:07if you don't want to change your life, you fail.
0:40:07 > 0:40:08You fail.
0:40:12 > 0:40:14I can see the appeal of this charismatic doctor,
0:40:14 > 0:40:18who's selling not just a diet, but a whole philosophy of living.
0:40:18 > 0:40:22And it clearly works for some people, in the short-term.
0:40:22 > 0:40:25But for the majority, long-term, it's just like any other diet.
0:40:27 > 0:40:29In a market full of quick fixes,
0:40:29 > 0:40:33which don't actually work long-term, what if there was a product
0:40:33 > 0:40:36that could provide a lifelong plan for weight loss?
0:40:40 > 0:40:45In 1961, a global diet brand was founded on the idea that
0:40:45 > 0:40:49if it was unhappiness, particularly among women, that was to blame for
0:40:49 > 0:40:55overeating, then what was needed was not a quick fix, but group therapy.
0:40:56 > 0:41:00And it was all created one night round the kitchen table
0:41:00 > 0:41:03at this suburban house in Queens, New York.
0:41:06 > 0:41:10The new idea came from an overweight housewife called Jean Nidetch.
0:41:10 > 0:41:14# I know I'd go from rags to riches... #
0:41:16 > 0:41:19She lost weight with standard-issue advice from the New York City Board
0:41:19 > 0:41:25of Health and began giving talks to other housewives who wanted to slim.
0:41:25 > 0:41:30Remember these things that happen to you, because that's your signal.
0:41:30 > 0:41:33# I'd be a millionaire... #
0:41:35 > 0:41:38I encourage overweight people to do one of two things.
0:41:38 > 0:41:41Either stay overweight and stop complaining,
0:41:41 > 0:41:43or do something about it.
0:41:45 > 0:41:49One night, Jean and a friend came up with a novel business plan.
0:41:49 > 0:41:53What if we were to create thousands of Jeans across America?
0:41:53 > 0:41:56Franchise out her inspirational speeches,
0:41:56 > 0:41:57and charge for the privilege?
0:41:57 > 0:42:01They even came up with a name for it. Weight Watchers.
0:42:03 > 0:42:05They started selling Weight Watchers franchises
0:42:05 > 0:42:10and training the franchisees to host meetings around the United States.
0:42:12 > 0:42:16The price of admission is two dollars and a weigh-in.
0:42:16 > 0:42:18That's very nice. Very nice.
0:42:20 > 0:42:23The business grew rapidly and soon boasted a million members.
0:42:29 > 0:42:32In 1967, Weight Watchers came to Britain.
0:42:34 > 0:42:37Twiggy's was now the look women aspired to.
0:42:38 > 0:42:41If Dior's 17-inch waist had been hard for most women to achieve,
0:42:41 > 0:42:44the Twiggy look was even more extreme,
0:42:44 > 0:42:47with no natural curves at all.
0:42:47 > 0:42:48Under this pressure,
0:42:48 > 0:42:52British women proved a ready market for Weight Watchers.
0:42:52 > 0:42:53Think you've lost any weight?
0:42:53 > 0:42:57- I don't know, I'm keeping my fingers crossed!- What's your goal?
0:42:57 > 0:43:02- Nine stone three! - And what are you now?- I was 15:6.
0:43:02 > 0:43:07- I'm 14 what, Mrs Weston?- 14:5 and one eighth.- 14:5 and one eighth.
0:43:07 > 0:43:10- I was 15:6.- You've only got five stone to go, then.
0:43:10 > 0:43:12Good luck if I do it!
0:43:12 > 0:43:13THEY LAUGH
0:43:14 > 0:43:17The head of the UK operation was Bernice Weston.
0:43:18 > 0:43:22Now, what about the group therapy? Why is that important?
0:43:23 > 0:43:24It's not only important,
0:43:24 > 0:43:26it's the thing that makes the other thing work.
0:43:26 > 0:43:29Any diet will help you lose weight.
0:43:29 > 0:43:33It is because, I believe, that no fat person can do it alone.
0:43:33 > 0:43:37When it comes to eating, fat people are basically very stupid.
0:43:37 > 0:43:39THEY LAUGH
0:43:39 > 0:43:43Thank you! These are with saccharine, isn't it?
0:43:43 > 0:43:47- How much profit is made out of this? - Well, I can't tell you.
0:43:47 > 0:43:49We are a profit-making organisation.
0:43:49 > 0:43:52I can tell you that the directors have drawn no salary from the
0:43:52 > 0:43:57organisation. We hope that it will be a profitable one. I don't know.
0:43:57 > 0:44:01Thus far, it isn't. In America, it's a very profitable organisation.
0:44:01 > 0:44:04Weight Watchers did soon become highly profitable in the UK.
0:44:04 > 0:44:09And by 2011, they had revenue of £130 million a year.
0:44:10 > 0:44:11APPLAUSE
0:44:16 > 0:44:18Today, they're keen to point out that they are promoting
0:44:18 > 0:44:20a lifestyle, not a diet.
0:44:23 > 0:44:27It just works. And you know what? I feel like I've got my sparkle back.
0:44:30 > 0:44:31But I wanted to find out
0:44:31 > 0:44:34if the Weight Watchers model of gradual weight loss through
0:44:34 > 0:44:37careful eating and group support was any more effective
0:44:37 > 0:44:39than other kinds of diet.
0:44:41 > 0:44:43I took Weight Watchers' own statistics
0:44:43 > 0:44:47to the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine at Oxford University,
0:44:47 > 0:44:51where Dr Carl Heneghan, an expert in clinical trial data,
0:44:51 > 0:44:53analysed exactly what the figures mean.
0:44:56 > 0:44:59Carl, over the long-term, for an average person,
0:44:59 > 0:45:01how effective is Weight Watchers?
0:45:01 > 0:45:03Well, OK, long-term, "over the long-term" is a bit general.
0:45:03 > 0:45:07- What would you like?- Five years. - Five years. Not effective.
0:45:09 > 0:45:11- Full stop?- Full stop.
0:45:11 > 0:45:14Carl, Weight Watchers do have a five-year study,
0:45:14 > 0:45:15but what does that show?
0:45:15 > 0:45:18What it shows is that two years - and actually, I've got the figure
0:45:18 > 0:45:21here - about 20% of them maintain their goal weight.
0:45:21 > 0:45:25By five years, that goes down to 16%.
0:45:25 > 0:45:28So basically, you pick the best people, the lifelong members,
0:45:28 > 0:45:31and actually even they struggle. With the majority of people
0:45:31 > 0:45:34not obtaining their long-term goal weight.
0:45:34 > 0:45:35And after 40 years of them,
0:45:35 > 0:45:38when are people going to wake up and say, this is not the answer?
0:45:48 > 0:45:51Weight Watchers was transformed from a small domestic business
0:45:51 > 0:45:55to a global super brand under the financial direction
0:45:55 > 0:45:57of Richard Samber.
0:45:58 > 0:46:01I wanted to know what he really thought of the product
0:46:01 > 0:46:03he had helped make so successful.
0:46:07 > 0:46:12When I came there in 1968, the turnover was 8 million.
0:46:12 > 0:46:18- And when I retired in 1993, the turnover was over 300 million.- Wow.
0:46:18 > 0:46:22How effective is being on Weight Watchers, long-term?
0:46:22 > 0:46:26It's hard. You have to follow the diet, you know.
0:46:26 > 0:46:31And there are a lot of distractions. Just look at all the food in there!
0:46:32 > 0:46:37- Mmm.- You have to be motivated to get to your goal weight.
0:46:37 > 0:46:40If you drop out, maybe something happens
0:46:40 > 0:46:43and you come along and you try again.
0:46:43 > 0:46:45You play the lottery ticket.
0:46:45 > 0:46:49If you don't win, you play it again and maybe you'll win the second time.
0:46:49 > 0:46:55Even using Weight Watchers' own statistics, the very best after
0:46:55 > 0:46:59five years, 16% of people have maintained their goal weight.
0:46:59 > 0:47:05I mean, that's hardly anyone. It's sort of a total failure.
0:47:05 > 0:47:08And I just wonder how on earth it is a business that can be
0:47:08 > 0:47:11so huge, can be based on patent failure?
0:47:13 > 0:47:16Well, but it's successful
0:47:16 > 0:47:20because the other 84% have to come back and do it again!
0:47:22 > 0:47:25That's where your business comes from.
0:47:25 > 0:47:27I've got to take my hat off to you.
0:47:27 > 0:47:30You have a business where if it actually worked,
0:47:30 > 0:47:32the business would be over!
0:47:32 > 0:47:34THEY LAUGH That's what I said!
0:47:38 > 0:47:43Richard was the finance director of Weight Watchers for 25 years,
0:47:43 > 0:47:45and he said to me,
0:47:45 > 0:47:49"If diets worked, we wouldn't have a business because the customer
0:47:49 > 0:47:54"wouldn't come back." But because they fail, they keep coming back.
0:47:57 > 0:48:01Under Richard Samber, the financial success of Weight Watchers soon
0:48:01 > 0:48:07caught the eye of food giant Heinz, who bought the company in 1978.
0:48:09 > 0:48:11The deal paved the way for an extraordinary series of
0:48:11 > 0:48:16takeovers that gave a surprising new twist in the diet business story.
0:48:18 > 0:48:20Many of the companies now making the most money
0:48:20 > 0:48:25out of dieting are also food producers.
0:48:25 > 0:48:30Slim Fast is owned by Unilever. Jenny Craig is owned by Nestle.
0:48:30 > 0:48:34Weight Watchers was sold by Heinz to Artel, an investment fund,
0:48:34 > 0:48:37who bought them for 735 million,
0:48:37 > 0:48:42but have so far taken out 3.8 billion in profits.
0:48:44 > 0:48:47And profits could be about to soar.
0:48:47 > 0:48:50With the global spread of obesity, the diet companies spotted
0:48:50 > 0:48:53a potentially massive new revenue stream.
0:48:54 > 0:48:58The growing problem of obesity could have terrifying health consequences.
0:48:58 > 0:49:01Leading doctors today called for urgent action,
0:49:01 > 0:49:05including educational programmes and higher standards of food labelling.
0:49:06 > 0:49:09As governments looked for solutions to obesity,
0:49:09 > 0:49:11the diet companies said they could help.
0:49:12 > 0:49:15The NHS now pays for obese patients
0:49:15 > 0:49:17to go to commercial weight loss classes.
0:49:17 > 0:49:21But how much of a public health benefit are we getting
0:49:21 > 0:49:22for our money?
0:49:24 > 0:49:28Carl Heneghan has analysed the data, including results of a trial
0:49:28 > 0:49:31when the NHS offered obese and overweight patients
0:49:31 > 0:49:35a 12-week course with slimming groups including Weight Watchers.
0:49:35 > 0:49:39These numbers represent what's going on in the evidence.
0:49:39 > 0:49:41Let's take 1,000 people.
0:49:41 > 0:49:45Imagine I invite 1,000 people who are overweight to come to
0:49:45 > 0:49:50Weight Watchers. Out of 1,000 people, 115 will take up the invitation.
0:49:50 > 0:49:54885 will say, forget it. OK?
0:49:54 > 0:49:57You then take about the half who attend all the classes.
0:49:57 > 0:50:01So remember, of your 1,000, we're now down to just 62 people.
0:50:01 > 0:50:06And they will lose about 5.4 kilogrammes in one year.
0:50:06 > 0:50:10But by two years - remember we started with 62 - you'll only
0:50:10 > 0:50:14be left with 13 people who have maintained their goal weight.
0:50:14 > 0:50:17And by five years, of the original 1,000,
0:50:17 > 0:50:21you're now down to ten people who've maintained their goal weight.
0:50:21 > 0:50:23- Ten in 1,000.- Yeah.
0:50:23 > 0:50:26That's not going to, as a public health intervention,
0:50:26 > 0:50:29make any difference to the problem at large.
0:50:31 > 0:50:35I wanted to put Carl's findings to Weight Watchers themselves.
0:50:40 > 0:50:42I'm going to meet Karen Miller-Kovach.
0:50:42 > 0:50:44She's the chief scientific officer at Weight Watchers,
0:50:44 > 0:50:47here at their global headquarters in New York.
0:50:47 > 0:50:51I want to find out what she has to say about Carl Heneghan's findings.
0:50:53 > 0:50:57- Hi.- I've got an interview with Karen Miller-Kovach.
0:50:57 > 0:51:01I asked Karen about Carl's analysis of the NHS trial.
0:51:01 > 0:51:05But she disputed his methods, and conclusions.
0:51:07 > 0:51:09To put credible,
0:51:09 > 0:51:15best-practice lifestyle management programmes into a pot
0:51:15 > 0:51:17called "weight loss"
0:51:17 > 0:51:23and then say, "This is what would happen" is unfair.
0:51:23 > 0:51:26Just to use an analogy of what you're saying is that if you had a headache
0:51:26 > 0:51:29today and you took an Aspirin and it took care of your headache today.
0:51:29 > 0:51:32And ten years from now, or five years from now, you get a headache
0:51:32 > 0:51:35and you say, "I took Aspirin!
0:51:35 > 0:51:38"I shouldn't have gotten that headache, it's not fair!"
0:51:38 > 0:51:43That's not the way it works. Obesity is a chronic condition.
0:51:43 > 0:51:46To believe that a person should be able to take
0:51:46 > 0:51:52a 12-week course of Weight Watchers, and that's it for life,
0:51:52 > 0:51:54and then go back to their old habits,
0:51:54 > 0:51:59go back to the obeso-genic environment in which we live
0:51:59 > 0:52:04without having the skills to make a difference, is a fool's errand.
0:52:04 > 0:52:09There was a 2007 study, which I believe looked at five years.
0:52:09 > 0:52:1416% actually managed to keep the weight off after five years.
0:52:14 > 0:52:15It was 16%.
0:52:15 > 0:52:20Actually, 16% weighed less than what they started with. At.
0:52:20 > 0:52:26- In terms of that.- Do you know how much less? I mean, to what degree?
0:52:26 > 0:52:28- How much did they weigh less? - Let me be clear.
0:52:28 > 0:52:33If they joined at, erm, 14 stone...
0:52:35 > 0:52:38..and when they went on to be Gold members
0:52:38 > 0:52:44and that maintenance study started, they weighed 12 stone.
0:52:46 > 0:52:52What I'm saying is that 16%, five years later, weighed less
0:52:52 > 0:52:55than - whatever I said - the 12 stone to the 14 stone.
0:52:55 > 0:52:56Mmm.
0:52:56 > 0:53:00Is it everything we would want? No. But then, what's the alternative?
0:53:00 > 0:53:03The alternative is doing nothing.
0:53:03 > 0:53:06I interviewed Richard Samber, who was the finance director
0:53:06 > 0:53:09- of Weight Watchers here in the US for 25 years.- Mmm-hmm.
0:53:09 > 0:53:12And he told me, "Diets fail, we know they fail.
0:53:12 > 0:53:14"And actually, do you know what?
0:53:14 > 0:53:18"That makes it a brilliant business model." That's what he told me.
0:53:18 > 0:53:20That's what he told you?
0:53:20 > 0:53:21First of all,
0:53:21 > 0:53:25I don't think that that is what the company was built on 50 years ago.
0:53:25 > 0:53:30I know for sure that that is not the business model of today.
0:53:30 > 0:53:34We cannot sustain a business on failure.
0:53:34 > 0:53:37There's a reason why we have been around 50 years.
0:53:37 > 0:53:41We've been around 50 years because people come to us
0:53:41 > 0:53:46time and time again, to help them with their chronic condition
0:53:46 > 0:53:48of weight management.
0:53:48 > 0:53:53I don't know that the business model was in 1965, I wasn't here.
0:53:53 > 0:53:55Apparently, he was.
0:53:55 > 0:53:58I am here, in 2013, and he's not.
0:54:02 > 0:54:05Today, Weight Watchers are based in the very building where
0:54:05 > 0:54:10Louis Dublin paved the way for the diet industry all those years ago.
0:54:10 > 0:54:13redefining the American population as overweight.
0:54:16 > 0:54:20And now, 60 years later, unless we take care,
0:54:20 > 0:54:24we will end up creating a new market for the diet industry.
0:54:26 > 0:54:29It's very fashionable to have a tiny, tiny waist...
0:54:29 > 0:54:32Hemmed in by images of the super thin
0:54:32 > 0:54:34and fear of being fat,
0:54:34 > 0:54:37British children are becoming anxious about their weight.
0:54:39 > 0:54:41We see very young children say,
0:54:41 > 0:54:45- "It's good to be hot, it's good to be skinny."- And how old are those kids?
0:54:45 > 0:54:47Six, seven.
0:54:47 > 0:54:50Children talking about calories, or this has got a lot of calories.
0:54:50 > 0:54:53They'll all be able to tell you about different diets,
0:54:53 > 0:54:57because fat is such a dirty word in a child's vocabulary.
0:54:57 > 0:55:01They are bombarded with the adverts that we see every day, we see
0:55:01 > 0:55:05on New and Closer and OK magazine as we queue up in the Co-op.
0:55:05 > 0:55:07They are bombarded with that.
0:55:07 > 0:55:11And the message is constantly, what we value about you is how you look.
0:55:11 > 0:55:15They did used to think I was fat and I used to get bullied a lot
0:55:15 > 0:55:18and it wasn't nice.
0:55:18 > 0:55:21You'd start losing your self-confidence
0:55:21 > 0:55:24and end up becoming this really shy person.
0:55:24 > 0:55:27- And you would not do anything, you wouldn't go out or anything.- Yeah.
0:55:27 > 0:55:30- Not see any of your friends any day. - Yeah.
0:55:33 > 0:55:37These children are learning to deal with the pressure to be thin.
0:55:37 > 0:55:41But a leading specialist in eating disorders believes it's the euphoric
0:55:41 > 0:55:45hit we get at the start of a diet that we seek out again and again.
0:55:47 > 0:55:49When people enter into dieting,
0:55:49 > 0:55:52first of all they get a real high out of a sense of achievement.
0:55:52 > 0:55:55Of watching the weight decrease on the scales.
0:55:55 > 0:55:57So you get a lovely hit and you think,
0:55:57 > 0:55:59"This is great, I've done really well."
0:55:59 > 0:56:02And the more intoxicating it becomes, the more obsessed we get with it.
0:56:02 > 0:56:04The more driven we are towards it.
0:56:04 > 0:56:06So they had the hit, they had the euphoria,
0:56:06 > 0:56:08and they think it must be possible again.
0:56:08 > 0:56:10So it's not that it's truly addictive,
0:56:10 > 0:56:12but it certainly has a quality of that.
0:56:15 > 0:56:18This is the key to the success of diets.
0:56:18 > 0:56:22That hit of control which we keep trying to repeat.
0:56:26 > 0:56:29Over the decades, we've seen diets promise success again and again.
0:56:29 > 0:56:34Each one convincing us we can feel healthier and look thinner.
0:56:34 > 0:56:37But have we been looking in the wrong direction all along?
0:56:39 > 0:56:42If we could get people to focus on health instead of weight,
0:56:42 > 0:56:46as what they're striving for, we'd be a lot better off.
0:56:46 > 0:56:47In every way.
0:56:50 > 0:56:53The only thing that makes sense is to look at your diet,
0:56:53 > 0:56:55look at your activity level, and say, "OK, would I
0:56:55 > 0:57:00"be a healthier, happier person if I ate a more balanced diet?
0:57:00 > 0:57:03"Would I be happier if I exercised three, four times a week?"
0:57:03 > 0:57:06The answer to all those questions is probably "yes".
0:57:06 > 0:57:08That really should be what we're asking ourselves.
0:57:08 > 0:57:12Not, "How can I make the scales show a smaller number?"
0:57:15 > 0:57:17There's no sign of the popularity of diets ending.
0:57:17 > 0:57:20In fact, the industry is bigger than ever.
0:57:20 > 0:57:22And despite all the evidence,
0:57:22 > 0:57:25we just can't resist our addiction to diets.
0:57:25 > 0:57:29Buying into a myth that we'll end up thin.
0:57:29 > 0:57:32Next time, I'll see how the exercise industry
0:57:32 > 0:57:34expanded into weight loss...
0:57:34 > 0:57:36The demand was insatiable.
0:57:37 > 0:57:40..Followed by drug companies...
0:57:40 > 0:57:41It's the magic bullet.
0:57:41 > 0:57:43To eat whatever you want and then take a pill?
0:57:43 > 0:57:46- It doesn't get better than that! - ..And how that went wrong...
0:57:46 > 0:57:49The US government is calling it the biggest case of health care
0:57:49 > 0:57:54- fraud in American history. - What they see is money, flowing in.
0:57:54 > 0:57:57Because so many people are so desperate to lose weight,
0:57:57 > 0:57:58they'll do anything.
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