Is it true that separate meals are an effective way to lose weight?

When there are very few days left before the warmer months arrive, people are wondering “how to quickly lose weight before summer.” Among the popular recommendations you can find the so-called separate meals. We decided to check whether this diet has a scientific basis.

About the benefits of separate nutrition write various sites about a healthy lifestyle life. Arguments in favor of it can be meet and in the media (for example, Cosmopolitan and weekly "7 days"). In articles explained mechanism of action: “The simultaneous consumption of acidic and alkaline foods slows down digestion, disrupts metabolism and leads to weight gain.” In addition to weight loss, the advantages of separate nutrition include cleansing the intestines, eliminating bad breath and removing toxins (we have already discussed why toxins are a misconception wrote previously). The stars of domestic and foreign show business are also popularizers of this diet - it is reported that separate meals are practiced Sharon Stone, Ksenia Sobchak, Pavel Priluchny And Vera Brezhneva.

Founder of the theory of separate nutrition counts American naturopath Herbert Shelton. He formulated his concept in the form of a succinct aphorism: “Nature does not make sandwiches.” In articles about separate nutrition, Shelton is often credited with a medical background, but in fact he graduated only Bernard Macfadden's College of Physcultopathy, as well as the School of Naturopathy and Chiropractic. Bernard McFadden today would be called a bodybuilder, he promoted a raw food diet, sleeping on the floor, grueling workouts, and sexual liberation. In particular, he invented a device for short-term enlargement of the male penis by placing it in an area with negative pressure. It is also noteworthy that McFadden's cause of death became refusal of medical treatment for digestive disorders. Shelton built his theory on McFadden's ideas. 

In 1928, Herbert Shelton published the book Proper Food Combinations. In it, he argues that different foods require different digestive conditions. In the case of simultaneous consumption of incompatible products, fermentation and putrefaction processes begin in the body, leading to intoxication. Shelton singled out seven categories of food that were strictly forbidden to be mixed within the same meal: proteins, starchy foods, fats, “acidic” fruits, “semi-acidic” fruits, non-starchy and green vegetables and melons. However, this idea contradicts not only medical data, but also the entire history of mankind, when people consumed different types of food together and did not die from poisoning. Moreover, there are almost no products of “pure categories” found in nature. Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation leads example: “From time immemorial, people ate bread with milk. And not because they understood biochemical processes, but because such food allowed them to be satiated and maintained health. And we already understand biochemistry and begin to understand that amino acids from plant and animal proteins are absorbed in a certain ratio. If one amino acid is missing, then the rest are absorbed worse. For example, there is little of the essential amino acid lysine in cereals, and it is not absorbed enough. But it is found in abundance in milk. And if you combine these two groups of products together, you get a complete protein product.”

American nutritionist Tamara Froyman in detail disassembled all the postulates of Shelton’s theory, and not one of them has found sufficient scientific and medical confirmation. Rotting as such is impossible in any part of the digestive tract; no combination of products can lead to a violation of the pH environment of the gastrointestinal tract; products can be digested simultaneously in various combinations. Summing up, Freuman concludes that the concept of separate nutrition is a common medical myth. Within the framework of the scientific and educational forum “Scientists against myths”, the concept of separate nutrition sorted it out Elena Motova. She also explains the inconsistency of the theory by the fact that “we do not have enzymes that break down bread separately, melon or green beans separately. We have enzymes that break down chemical bonds in large molecules. As a matter of fact, we can classify this concept as fantasy.” 

At the same time, the matter was not limited to theoretical analysis. Back in 2000, scientists held randomized clinical trial. Overweight volunteers adhered to one of the following diets for six weeks: the former consumed proteins, fats and carbohydrates in isolation, while the latter, without such restrictions, could mix nutrients at their own discretion. At the same time, the caloric intake in both groups was the same. After six weeks, the scientists assessed multiple parameters and found that weight loss in both groups was almost the same (6.2 ± 0.6 kg for the separate diet and 7.5 ± 0.4 kg for the standard diet), the loss of fat tissue was slightly greater in the second group, and their blood pressure was also more normalized. No advantages were found in the separate feeding group. 

It is important to note the potential danger of the theory of separate nutrition. Since Shelton did not have a medical education, he more than once was fined and even served prison sentences for practicing medicine and lecturing on medicine without a license. There were also deaths in his practice. In particular, for the treatment of the seven-year-old daughter of one of her followers, Shelton prescribed diet of water and juices. After 41 days of such nutrition, the girl died of pneumonia, which arose against the background of general exhaustion of the body. In 1942 against Shelton a lawsuit was filed with the wording “negligent homicide” and “treatment without a state medical license,” but the case did not reach a court hearing. In the 1980s, the trial of a similar case was still it came before the trial. William Carlton from Los Altos, adhering to Shelton's recommendations, died on the 30th day of the prescribed diet, also from pneumonia caused by general exhaustion of the body. The court ordered the relatives of the deceased to pay monetary compensation, but Shelton again avoided personal punishment. He also managed to close his weight loss school before the court verdict. However, Carlton's death was the sixth to occur in Shelton's practice in the previous five years. In the last years of his life, Shelton was bedridden due to Parkinson's disease, but continued to popularize his theory, dictated books and articles, receiving huge fees for them.

Shelton's main associate was the surgeon William Howard Hay. Just like the “Hey diet” theory of separate nutrition most popular in the English-speaking world. Unlike Shelton, Hay had a medical education, but adhered to very non-traditional views. In particular, there was enemy vaccination, believed that aluminum could cause cancer (why this is not so, we wrote earlier), and recommended people with type 1 diabetes completely avoid insulin therapy. 

So, from a scientific point of view, there are no limiting factors to mixing different types of nutrients. Moreover, evolutionarily, the digestive tract is designed in such a way that different types of food entering it are complemented by the enzymes necessary for digestion. There is no point in sticking to a separate diet for weight loss, since medical experiments have shown that only a general reduction in caloric intake leads to weight loss, and not separate consumption of proteins and carbohydrates.

Not true

What do our verdicts mean?

Read on the topic:

1. Elena Motova. Myths about healthy eating and diets
2. Is it true that the body needs to detox to remove toxins?