Dole is hoping to replicate Japan's banana craze in the US with the launch of its own version of the celebrated Japanese Morning Banana Diet, which led to a banana-buying frenzy in Japan during much of 2008-2009.
The US multinational marketer dubs its banana diet 'Go Bananas 2-A-Day Challenge'as a 'healthier sequel' to the Japanese original, conceived by a Japanese pharmacist to help her husband lose weight.
The diet led to a nationwide diet frenzy and widespread banana shortages in Japan after the husband posted his dieting success on a social networking site.
Dole says its version, created by the Dole Nutrition Institute specially for the New Year, goes beyond the Japanese two-banana breakfast routine and provides a comprehensive two-week plan of meals and snacks to boost energy, increase fruit and vegetable intake and improve dieters' overall health while they lose weight.
'Sumiko Watanabe, the pharmacist in Osaka, was definitely on to something since we know that increasing consumption of fruits and vegetables in general, and bananas in particular, can help support healthy, sustainable weight loss,' Dole Nutrition Institute's Dr Nicholas Gillet said in a press release. 'What we did at Dole was expand this simple principle into a well-balanced, two-week plan that can serve as the basis for a long-term healthy lifestyle.'
Go Bananas 2-A-Day Challenge participants begin each day with two bananas and at least eight ounces of water, a combination said to aid weight loss.
'Bananas contain resistant starch which ferments in your intestine and creates by-products that block conversion of some carbohydrates before they can be added to your body as extra pounds,' Dr Gillett said.
Banana fibre creates extra bulk in the stomach, allowing participants to feel full longer, he added. The fibre acts like an internal accelerator that pulls some of the fat in the stomach through the digestive system before it can be absorbed, Dr Gillett said.
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