High protein diet 'under attack'

The benefits of high-protein diets have again been questioned.

The Total Wellbeing Diet, similar to the Atkins diet, advises eating around twice the daily amount of protein in a typical Western diet.

But an editorial in the magazine Nature suggests the diet only helps a small number of people.

However the scientists from Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization who wrote the book, stand by their work.

The book has become a best-seller, selling half a million copies in Australia since May.

It went on sale in the UK in September, and is due to be launched in the US next year.

The diet recommends around 30 to 35% of a person's daily energy intake should come from protein, compared to 15% in the typical Western diet.

To do this, Manny Noakes and Peter Clifton who devised the eating plan, recommend eating more meat and fish at lunch and dinner.

It differs from Atkins because followers are allowed to eat small amounts of carbohydrates and encouraged to stock up on fruit and vegetables.

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