It makes me sad to see this comment here. This is precisely how pseudoscience sells and proliferates: subjective attribution of all success to the hyped bunk.

Quirk diets work because adherents accidentally get the calorie balance in the right direction by limiting/changing dietary habits. It's not the quirk, which might maybe contribute a tiny effect if it's not entirely bogus in principle. Yet people hail, "The diet works! The guru was right! All hail the Guru!"

Ask and you'll hear the exact same refrain for homeopathy, acupuncture, rhino horn powder, shark fin soup, albino body parts, ...

Yes, and well put too. Evidence seems to suggest that the placebo effect can occur even for those who know they're getting a placebo (http://www.theguardian.com/science/2010/dec/22/placebo-effec... methinks some 'conscious placebo' product could really help people without deluding them...

Ya but science backs up the ketogenic diet pretty well.