Warning: New Year diets can lead to health food obsession'

NEW Year dieters have been warned that cleaneating trends can trigger an addiction to consuming only healthy foods.

- Hanna Geissler

This could lead to nutrient deficiencies due to the elimination certain foods, as well as mental health issues as the obsession takes hold.

In a study, 179 female fashion models and a control group of 261, mostly young university students, were asked about their eating habits.

It found over a third of the models and a fifth of the control group showed susceptibility to healthy eating addiction.

In severe cases this could lead to orthorexia nervosa, an eating disorder in which sufferers obsess about eating food that is considered healthy or pure, researchers said.