The University of Illinois, Chicago has discovered a new way of dieting that allowed all participants in their study to lose between 10 lb and 30 lb within a 10-week diet trial.

This new diet, christened he Alternate-Day Diet (or ADD), allows the dieter to feast one day and then fast the next. The Alternate-Day Diet (ADD) allows you to eat (but not over eat) any foods you like on the "up" day and only 500 calories on the "down" day - this process is then repeated, with each alternate day either being an "up" or "down" day.

On the "down" day (the low calorie day) the dieter should aim to spread their 500 calories throughout the day - no mean feat. The reduced-calorie days dieters are encouraged to 'embrace' the feeling of hunger whilst on calorie days (days you can eat what you like) the intake of calories, in theory, switches on the body's "skinny gene" - the gene that makes some people thinner than others.

It is believed that the skinny gene - the SIRT1 gene encourages the body to use rather than store body fat. Advocates of the Alternate-Day Diet suggest that as little as 3 "down" days can trigger the SIRT1 gene into action, though it is suggested that this initial strict part of the Alternate-Day Diet should last two weeks.

After this period the SIRT1 gene should be firing on all cylinders, making weight management much easier, which means that the dieter can increase their calorie intake on down days to up to 1,200 calories a day, or in other words up to 50% of a 'normal' calorie intake.