funded by the National Institutes of Health and devel-
oped at the University of Washington in Seattle, WA.
ORGANIZATIONS
Cambrooke Foods, LLC. 2 Central Street, Framingham,
MA 01701. Telephone: (866) 456-9776 or (508) 782-- Website: http://www.cambrookefoods.com/.
Cambrooke Foods is a supplier of low-protein foods for
people with phenylketonuria and MSUD; it is also a
distributor of Vitaflo products within the United States.
Clinic for Special Children. 535 Bunker Hill Road, Stras-
burg, PA 17579. Telephone: (717) 687-9407. Website:
http://www.clinicforspecialchildren.org/index.html.
The clinic is a nonprofit medical and diagnostic service
for children with MSUD and other inherited metabolic
disorders, founded by one of the leading researchers of
MSUD.
Maple Syrup Urine Disease (MSUD) Family Support
Group. 82 Ravine Road, Powell, OH 43065. Telephone:
(740) 548-4475. Website: http://www.msud-
support.org.
National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Digestive
Diseases Clearinghouse. 2 Information Way, Bethesda,
MD 20892-3570. Telephone: (800) 891-5389 or (301)
654-3810. Website: http://www.niddk.nih.gov.
National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD). 55
Kenosia Avenue, P.O. Box 1968, Danbury, CT 06813- - Telephone: (800) 999-6673 or (203) 744-0100.
Website: http://www.rarediseases.org.
Vitaflo USA, LLC. 123 East Neck Road, Huntington, NY - Telephone: (888) 848-2356. Website: http://
http://www.vitaflousa.com. Vitaflo USA is the distributor of
the MSUD protein substitutes developed by the parent
company in the United Kingdom. The Canadian dis-
tributor is ParaMed Specialities, Inc., 995 Wellington
Street, Suite 200, Montreal, Quebec H3C IV3. Tele-
phone: (514) 395-2396. Website (French and English):
http://www.paramedinc.com/
Rebecca J. Frey, PhDMayo Clinic diet (fad diet)
Definition
The Mayo Clinic diet (fad diet) is a popular diet
that was neither created by nor endorsed by the Mayo
Clinic, an internationally respected medical research
facility headquartered in Rochester, Minnesota. The
fad diet promises a weight loss of 10 pounds (4.5kilo-
grams) for the person who follows the plan for 12
days. The dieter wanting to lose more weight takes
two days off from the regimen and then starts the
diet again. A person supposedly could lose more
than 50 pounds (22.7 kilograms) within severalmonths, according to the diet plan. The diet is low in
carbohydrates, high in fat, and restricts the consump-
tion of fruits, breads, and dairy products.OriginsDetails are vague about how a grapefruit-based
diet became known as the Mayo Clinic fad diet. Not
even the Mayo Clinic knows how its name became
associated with the popular diet, according to the
medical facility’s web site. The Mayo Clinic fad diet
is believed to date back to the 1930s, when it was
known as theHollywood diet. It may be that the
public thought that following the diet would quickly
lead a dieter to have a slender figure like those of the
movie stars. The Hollywood diet was a three-week
plan that called for the dieter to eat grapefruit with
every meal. Small amounts of other food were
allowed, with the calories consumed each day totaling
less than 800.
Grapefruit was eaten three times daily because the
citrus fruit was said to contain enzymes that burned
fat. Because of this special property, the weight-loss
plan was also known as the ‘‘Grapefruit Diet’’ or the
‘‘Grapefruit and Egg Diet.’’ Thegrapefruit dietwas
spoofed in the 1933 movie ‘‘Hard to Handle,’’ a com-
edy starring actor James Cagney. He played a con man
who promoted various money-making schemes during
the Great Depression. While in prison, Cagney’s char-
acter came up with a grapefruit diet that lasted 18
days.
Some Cagney fans said that the choice of fruit was
a reference to ‘‘The Public Enemy,’’ a 1931 movie
where the actor smashed a grapefruit into actress
Mae Clarke’s face. However, grapefruit was a key
element in various diets at the time. By the 1940s,
one version of the fad diet was known as the Mayo
Clinic Diet, according to dietitians at the Mayo Clinic.
It may be that promoters of the high-fat, low-
carbohydrate diet thought that using the Mayo Clin-
ic’s name would lead dieters to believe that the food
plan was medically sound. The Mayo Clinic disputes
this label and refers to the fad weight-loss plan as a
‘‘diet myth.’’
Although the creator of the Mayo clinic fad diet is
not known, the weight loss plan is known internation-
ally. The bogus Mayo Clinic diet has been circulated
by various methods over the decades. People typed
copies of it for their friends during the 1950s. They
duplicated it on office copiers during the 1970s, sent by
it fax during the 1980s, and posted online versions of it
that could be found on the Internet in 2007.Mayo Clinic diet (fad diet)