K-E Diet Has Women Using Feeding Tubes to Drop 10 Pounds: Is It Healthy?
A disturbing new trend has emerged among women struggling to lose weight for their weddings. The K-E diet requires women to use feeding tubes instead of eating traditional food, sparking health concerns.
Doctors insert a feeding tube through the nose into the stomach in order to deliver needed nutrients to the "dieter." These sessions typically last for 10 days while women eat no solid foods. Rapid weight loss does occur, but at what expense?
"Any extreme low-calorie diet is associated with side effects, kidney stones, dehydration, headaches," Dr. Aronne told the New York Times. "If you lose muscle mass and water, what's the point of that?"
Dr. Di Pietro fully supports the K-E diet and explains his rationale. "At first I decided not to do it for people who just want to lose a few pounds. But then I thought, why should I say five or ten pounds are not enough? People want to be perfect," he told the Times.
Many of these women are brides who want to look their best for their weddings. "It is a hunger-free, effective way of dieting," Di Pietro told ABC. "Within a few hours, your hunger and appetite go away completely, so patients are not hungry at all for the whole 10 days. That's what is so amazing about this diet."
Yet other dieticians and physicians are not so sure that the K-E diet is "so amazing."
"It doesn't matter if it's through a tube, a straw, a meal plan," explained Dr. Shikora. "They all work if someone goes from 3,000 calories a day to 800," he told the Times.
"I don't want to tell a bride she shouldn't look good for the wedding," said Dr. Aronne. "But we tell them, 'You can get to the same place if you started earlier, instead of waiting until the last minute and doing something drastic.'"
According to reports, the K-E diet is popular in Spain and has now caught on throughout Europe and the United States. A typical treatment (diet) will cost at least $1,500 for the 10-day cycle.
