As our obession with healthy living and slimline figures soars increasing numbers of people fall into the diet trap - one month the weight falls off, and the next it returns, with avengance.
According to market analysts Datamonitor in 2002, a staggering 230.6 million people across Europe attempted a diet. Of these, only 3.8 million will succeed in keeping off the weight that they have lost for over a year. The low success rate reflects badly on the diet industry leaving an opening for manufacturers and retailers to emphasise 'healthy eating' products to help consumers keep the weight off after dieting.
Potential dieters are bombarded by a myriad of information sources. Their knowledge of dieting, weight loss, nutrition and obesity comes from food manufacturers and retailers, but the source that targets them most effectively is the mass media, continues Datamonitor.
The problem with this is that no clear message emerges. The information is usually conflicting, and many less scrupulous publications are perfectly happy to report news of seemingly effortless and rapid diets and weight loss methods.
Datamonitor suggests that the majority of consumers are ill-informed about what they can realistically expect from dieting. This reflects poorly on the diet industry and is a major contributing factor to the ineffectiveness of people's dieting efforts.
Which leads us to the 'opening'. The food and drinks industry, as well as retailers, have the influence and financial leverage necessary to produce coherent information campaigns to educate dieters on nutritional matters. There have already been instances of companies taking action on this, especially amongst retailers.
'Healthy eating' as opposed to 'dieting' are the watchwords for any such campaign, emphasises the report. The message that dieters need to receive is that a diet alone is not a long-term solution to excessive weight. It is certainly part of it, but only within the context of a general pattern of healthy eating and exercise habits. The ultimate aim should be that a person seeking permanent weight-loss should not consciously be on a constant diet but rather should have changed his or her lifestyle.
For food manufacturers and retailers, this means that dieters should find a broad range of products available to support their efforts, and these need not be specialised dieting products.
Whereas a dieter may initially lose excess weight through a traditional diet, they should then be encouraged to move on to manufacturers' or retailers' other products which will help them to develop and maintain healthy eating patterns. This approach should lead to higher dieting success rates, a better image for the diet industry and higher confidence amongst consumers, the report concludes.