Stop The Fast Track Trial
The Fast Track To Health Trial:
What You Need To Know
The "Fast Track to Health" study is a weight loss experiment, drastically restricting the caloric intake of young people for 12 months.
The severity of this extreme diet regime has caused a global outcry from clinicians and healthcare organisations. And yet, despite the ethical issues raised, the study is currently recruiting teenagers between 13 and 17.
There is an established body of research to show that extreme dieting in adolescence cannot be done ‘safely’. Crash dieting is strongly linked to the development of eating disorders, metabolic damage, and leads to weight regain. The mental health, emotional well-being, and psycho-social risks have been raised in multiple complaints, but ignored by the Fast Track ethics committee.
If you are a parent or a teenager considering taking part in the Fast Track trial, we urge you to read the content in this website before you make your decision. If you are already participating in the trial, you have the right to withdraw, and we encourage you to do so.
“Interventions should focus on health, not weight, so as not to contribute to the overvaluation of weight and shape and negative attitudes about fatness that are common among children and have harmful effects on their physical, social and psychological wellbeing.”
Academy of Eating Disorders