A vegan diet plan promoted by Beyoncé may be ‘dangerous’ because it misses out vital nutrients and skimps on calories, experts have warned.
The ’22 Days Nutrition’ plan, which cuts out carbohydrates and sugar as well as meat, fish and dairy, allegedly help the pop star lose weight after giving birth.
It’s now promoted online by Beyoncé and her husband, Jay-Z, and charges users up to $168 (£138) per year for vegan recipes.
But a British dietitian told the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire programme said people would ‘feel tired and exhausted’ if they followed the diet plan.
Beyoncé promotes the 22 Days Nutrition plan, which costs up to $168 (£138) per year for vegan recipes which one expert said people ‘could obtain on other websites or blogs’
A day following the diet would give someone just 1,400 calories over a whole day, the BBC reported, when adults need between 2,000 and 2,500kcal as a minimum.
Daniel O’Shaughnessy, spokesman for the British Association for Nutrition and Lifestyle Medicine (BANT), told Victoria Derbyshire: ‘This is quite low for anyone.
‘Users will feel tired and exhausted particularly when adding in the exercise.
‘It could be dangerous for the average person to follow without a team of nutritionists and trainers like Beyoncé has.’
Beyoncé reportedly followed the diet for 44 days after giving birth to her twins Rumi and Sir in 2017.
It was created by her own friend and personal trainer, Marco Borges.
In a promotional video the 37-year-old singer showed she weighed 175lbs (12st5lbs; 79kg) before starting the diet, calling stepping on the scales ‘every woman’s worst nightmare’.
Although the recipes cannot be read without paying to sign up to the 22 Days plan, Instagram users and journalists have shared some of the meals online.
Among the images shared on Instagram under #22daysnutrition are vegan tacos on lettuce leaves; sweet potato and chickpeas with broccoli and tahini; pasta in low-fat pesto; porridge with almond milk, bananas and cinnamon.
Instagram user _intheloop_ posted a photograph of a meal she claims came from the 22 Days Nutrition plan, which shows ‘vegan tacos’ which appear to use lettuce leaves instead of corn shells and contain tomatoes, avocado, sweetcorn and some kind of vegan chorizo
Jay-Z, Beyoncé’s husband, is also involved in the promotion of the diet
And a Vice reporter who signed up for the plan revealed it offered sunflower seed butter and strawberry toast, jalapeno pumpkin soup, red lentil dahl with toast, a mango chutney sandwich and Indonesian tempeh with brown rice.
BANT’s Mr O’Shaugnessy said people following the diet risk leaving out vital nutrients which are harder to get without meat and dairy.
These included iron, vitamin B12 and protein, and he added people following the vegan plan should be advised on how to compensate for this.
‘Beyoncé is selling a dream,’ Mr O’Shaughnessy said. ‘This is worrying as she has a number of teenage followers who are easily susceptible.
‘She is a gateway to millions of people.’
Dietitians have in the past criticised the diet, expressing concern that it’s too low in calories and that the paid-for recipes were nothing special and were available elsewhere.
The University of California Los Angeles’s Dr Dana Hunnes told Vice: ‘The foods themselves are healthy, but even for weight loss and especially for maintenance, portion sizes need to be increased, or snacks need to be added.’
She added: ‘It’s a bummer to me that someone with her means and fortune would charge people for this information they could obtain on other healthy plant-based websites or blogs.’
MailOnline has approached Beyoncé’s publicist for comment.