Clean eating is a trend. Or rather, clean eating is more of an online cult that has taken over the world of dieting.

If you search #CleanEating on Instagram, you will find close to 30 million posts on the topic.

Celebs, models and fitness gurus have taken on the clean eating challenge, and share their daily obsessions with super foods and lean meals. Here’s an example of what you might find:

However, as more and more people find themselves on the fashionable diet, researchers are starting to hit back. The National Osteoporosis Society is the most recent, warning that the lifestyle is a “ticking timebomb” that could leave young people with weak bones, reports The Telegraph.

The charity’s research showed that four in ten of those aged between 18 and 24 “have tried such regimes”, which are coming under attack for cutting out major food groups like dairy.

You see, although clean eating is a massive phenomenon, it’s an umbrella term that includes various aspects of dieting, depending on the person, incorporating all or just some of the following:

• Avoiding processed foods
• Eating lots of vegetables (preferably organic), seeds and whole grains such as barley, amaranth and quinoa
• Relatively little carbohydrate, instead preferring protein and “healthy fats” such as coconut oil
• More frequent, but smaller, meals
• Cooking at home, with good ingredients

Surveying more than 2 000 adults, the charity also found that those aged between 18 and 24 are most likely to have tried clean eating when choosing a diet.

The Telegraph has on why it’s an issue:

Dairy – a major source of calcium, which protects the bones – was one of the key food groups targeted.

In total more than 20 per cent of those such age had cut or severely restricted intake of milk or cheese.

This group were far more likely than older adults to be getting their information about health and diets from blogs, vlogs and other social media.

The trends were putting the generation at significant risk of developing osteoporosis – a condition that causes bones to become fragile and break easily – in later life.

And it’s obvious when you think about it. Malnutrition in young people results in health deficiencies in the long run, hence why the charity is now urging parents and grandparents to talk to teens and young adults about what they are putting into their bodies.

Your body, your choice, but how far is clean eating really going to get you?

[source:telegraph]