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	The &#39;clean eating&#39; diet fad is a &quot;ticking timebomb&quot; that could leave young people with severely weak bones and cost the Irish taxpayer millions of euro to treat, the Osteoporosis Society has warned.</p>
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	Social media is regularly flooded with photos of the diet trend when includes &#39;clean&#39; foods that are cooked from scratch and eliminating refined sugar, gluten, grains or dairy.</p>
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	New research by Osteoporosis Society has found that four in 10 people aged between 18 and 24 have tried diets which promote cutting out major food groups such as dairy.</p>
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	The diets have become increasingly fashionable, and are associated with a number of celebrities, who have boasted how they have cut out gluten, dairy, grains and refined sugars.</p>
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	Earlier this year bloggers Jasmine and Melissa Hemsley moved to distance themselves from &quot;clean eating&quot;, saying their emphasis was on eating foods without additives, not on restriction.</p>
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	But Michelle O&#39;Brien, CEO of the Irish Osteoporosis Society said it is vital that young people have a healthy approach to including all food groups and urged parents and grandparents to talk to young people about the risks from their diet.</p>
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	&quot;We would have an issue with fad diets because once a celebrity endorses it, everyone seems to jump on the bandwagon,&quot; she told the Irish Independent.</p>
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	&quot;Dairy is not just a source of calcium but also vitamin D and other vital nutrients. It is an essential part of our diet from birth throughout life. In Ireland we are lucky that we have a strong dairy industry. So unless someone has an allergy to dairy, you should always include dairy in your diet,&quot; she added.</p>
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	Ms O&#39;Brien, whose mother Professor Moira O&#39;Brien is the founder of the Osteoporosis Society, said that a good diet is essential early in life because it is too late to reverse the damage caused by nutrient deficiencies by our late 20s.</p>
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	&quot;My mother, who is 84 this year and is still working as an osteoporosis consultant, would tell the Irish public not to listen to ridiculous diet ideas,&quot; she said.</p>
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	&quot;If you want to be healthy and lose weight, just eat a normal diet.&quot;</p>
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	&quot;Everyone thinks that it is a disease that effects older women - but 50pc of women and 25pc of men over the age of 50 have osteoporosis,&quot; she added.</p>
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	&quot;We have seen 5-year-olds, 8-year-olds and 10-year-olds with the disease.</p>
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	&quot;More women die from the secondary effects of fractures as a result of having osteoporosis than die from cancer of the ovaries, uterus or cervix.&quot;</p>
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	Osteoporosis affects half of all Irish women and one in four Irish men over the age of 50. The disease currently costs the Irish taxpayer &euro;500m in treatment costs and this could rise to &euro;1bn by 2025.</p>
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	Professor Susan Lanham-New, Clinical Advisor to the National Osteoporosis Society in the UK, says it is quite likely there could be a significant rise in the numbers of people suffering fractures and the complications associated with them in the future.</p>
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	&quot;Without urgent action being taken to encourage young adults to incorporate all food groups into their diets and avoid particular &#39;clean eating&#39; regimes, we are facing a future where broken bones will become just the &#39;norm&#39;,&quot; Prof Lanham-New said.</p>
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	&quot;We know that osteoporosis is a painful and debilitating condition and young adults have just one chance to build strong bones and reduce their risk of developing severe problems in later life.&quot;</p>
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	(Published by the Irish Independent on the 13th April 2017)</p>
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	<a href="http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/health/clean-eating-a-ticking-timebomb-that-puts-young-at-risk-of-fractures-35618909.html">http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/health/clean-eating-a-ticking-timebomb-that-puts-young-at-risk-of-fractures-35618909.html</a></p>
