Macrobiotic diet

Macrobiotic diet
Alternative medicine
ClaimsHealth effects from a diet avoiding refined foods and most animal products. Specific effects on cancer.
Related fieldsDiet
Original proponentsSagen Ishizuka
Subsequent proponentsGeorge Ohsawa
Michio Kushi
William Dufty
Edward Esko

A macrobiotic diet (or macrobiotics) is an unconventional restrictive diet based on ideas about types of food drawn from Zen Buddhism.[1][2] The diet tries to balance the supposed yin and yang elements of food and cookware.[1][3] Major principles of macrobiotic diets are to reduce animal products, eat locally grown foods that are in season, and consume meals in moderation.[2]

There is no high-quality clinical evidence that a macrobiotic diet is helpful for people with cancer or other diseases, and it may be harmful.[4][2][5] Neither the American Cancer Society nor Cancer Research UK recommends adopting the diet.[5][6] Deaths have been reported from malnutrition on strict macrobiotic diets.[7][8]

  1. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference fad was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b c Lerman RH (7 December 2010). "The Macrobiotic Diet in Chronic Disease". Nutrition in Clinical Practice. 25 (6): 621–626. doi:10.1177/0884533610385704. PMID 21139126.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference oxref was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Hübner J, Marienfeld S, Abbenhardt C, Ulrich CM, Löser C (November 2012). "[How useful are diets against cancer?]". Deutsche Medizinische Wochenschrift (Review) (in German). 137 (47): 2417–22. doi:10.1055/s-0032-1327276. PMID 23152069. S2CID 76124925.
  5. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference cruk was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference ACS was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference CA 1993 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference JAMA 1971 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).