Cabbage soup and grapefruit: flush fat?

Despite long-standing rumours to the contrary, "there's no science proving that any particular food can burn, melt, or flush away fat," says Donald Hensrud, M.D., an associate professor of preventive medicine and nutrition at the Mayo Clinic. "If a woman loses weight on a grapefruit or cabbage soup plan, it's likely because she has cut calories by restricting her intake to a handful of foods."
Hensrud's colleagues at the Mayo Clinic estimated that people who follow either plan faithfully eat 1 000 to 1 200 calories a day. "You'd almost certainly lose weight eating 1 000 calories of anything, whether it's bananas or potato chips," he says. "But it will be pretty tough to keep the weight from returning once you return to your normal diet."

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