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"Despite its dubious beginnings, fad-dieting gained mass appeal in the 19th century. In 1829, Presbyterian minister Sylvester Graham touted the Graham Diet - centered on caffeine-free drinks and vegetarian cuisine, and supplemented by the eponymous Graham Cracker - as a cure for not just obesity but masturbation (and the subsequent blindness it was thought to cause.) The diet became so popular that the students of Oberlin College were forced onto it for a brief period in the 1830s before they successfully rebelled through mass dissent in 1841. Thirty-five years later, an English casketmaker named William Banting became famous by pioneering the concept of a low-carbohydrate diet, which helped him lose 50 lbs. He published his results in the 1864 "Letter on Corpulance," and the plan became so popular that "banting" became a synonym for dieting across Britain. "

"Women from India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka with insulin resistance showed marked improvement after taking vitamin D supplements, says a study. Von Hurst, nutrition lecturer at the Institute of Food, Nutrition and Human Health at Albany, conducted the study for her doctoral thesis. Insulin resistance is largely symptom-free and sufferers are unaware of their condition. 'Once it has fully developed into type-2 diabetes, it can be treated, but not cured,' says Von Hurst. Von Hurst says that while diet and exercise play a major part in the onset of type-2 diabetes, her findings reinforce the importance of vitamin D from the sun and supplements to prevent type-2 diabetes. She also found evidence of vitamin D increasing bone strength in older women. "