Critics Decry Designers for Offering Discounted Juice Cleanses to Models
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iStockphoto/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — A trade group of fashion designers has partnered with a prominent juice cleanse company to provide “nutritious” and “convenient” food for models at a discount during Fashion Week, but critics say the move just puts more pressure on models to be dangerously thin.
“Sending a model to a juice cleanse place is like sending an alcoholic to a bar,” said Whitney Thompson, the first plus size winner of America’s Next Top Model, who became an ambassador for the National Eating Disorders Association in 2010. “It’s baiting them.”
The Council of Fashion Designers of America, an invitation-only trade organization of about 400 designers, announced this week that it partnered with Organic Avenue, an organic weight loss company in Manhattan, to provide a 50 percent discount on juices and food to the models during the annual weeklong fashion event in New York City that starts on Feb 7.
A juice cleanse, or juice fast, is an extreme diet that involves drinking juice — and little or nothing else — for a number of days in a row. Another popular diet called the Master Cleanse calls for drinking a mixture of lemon juice, maple syrup and cayenne pepper whenever the dieter is hungry. Taking a laxative before bed is also recommended. Organic Avenue cleanses involve a variety of juices but cost $75 a day.
Thompson, a model in New York City, said it is “extremely common” for models to do juice cleanses, adding that many of them struggle with anorexia and bulimia as they struggle to fit into their size 0 dresses for the Fashion Week shows. She said Organic Avenue is known primarily for its juice cleanses because celebrities like Gwyneth Paltrow do them.
Organic Avenue offers solid food as well, but many options appear to be between 100 and 300 calories a dish. The “Dandelion-Kale Salad” has 194 calories, and the “Cauliflower Salad” has 146 calories. The “Big Arugula Salad,” on the other hand, has 533 calories.
Dr. Donald Hensrud, Mayo Clinic’s chair of preventative medicine, said the food could be good as part of a healthy diet, but there is no evidence to suggest juice cleanses or colonics (which Organic Avenue recommends in its FAQ section) have any health benefits. In fact, Hensrud said, they could be dangerous.
“In this group where there is some baseline concern already to not take in a lot of calories, I’m concerned this may not be part of an overall healthy diet plan,” said Hensrud, who edited The Mayo Clinic Diet blog.
Hensrud said “cleanse” and “detoxification” are buzzwords with no scientific evidence behind them.
“What ‘toxins’ are people getting rid of? The colon is full of bacteria,” he said. (This flora of bacteria and other microorganisms plays a key role in gastrointestinal health.) “Nobody’s been able to tell me specifically what ‘toxins’ they are talking about.”
Juice cleanses can result in diarrhea, which can result in dehydration and electrolyte deficiency, Hensrud said. He acknowledged that people often say they feel better on juice cleanses, but the mental state does not correlate with their physical well being.
Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio