The celebrity-backed fad of clean eating is a “ticking time bomb” that could leave the younger generation with weak bones, the UK’s National Osteoporosis Society has warned.

Celebrities have in recent years taken to their social media accounts to boast about cutting various food groups in a bid to lose weight and tone up.

Cutting gluten, dairy, grains and refined sugars has been a popular trend.

The charity conducted a survey of more than 2000 adults and found that 70 percent of those aged between 18-35 either had been or currently were on a diet. Meanwhile, those aged between 18-24 were most likely to have tried “clean eating,” The Telegraph reported.

Experts said the trends, especially the trend of abstaining from calcium-rich dairy, were putting young people at risk of developing osteoporosis — a condition that causes bones to become fragile and breakable later in life.

Professor Susan Lanham-New, clinical adviser to the National Osteoporosis Society and professor of Nutrition at the University of Surrey, said: “Diet in early adulthood is so important because by the time we get into our late twenties it is too late to reverse the damage caused by poor diet and nutrient deficiencies and the opportunity to build strong bones has passed.

“Without urgent action being taken to encourage young adults to incorporate all food groups into their diets and avoid particular ‘clean eating’ regimes, we are facing a future where broken bones will become just the ‘norm’,” she added.

Source: Arab News