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As New Year’s resolutions fade into distant memory, filed away to be thought about again in 11 months time, a London-based GP has warned the popular detoxes and diets may not have actually done much good.

This year, over 250,000 people officially took part in Veganuary, by ditching meat and dairy products for the whole month.

For others, it was alcohol they were looking to give up and a YouGov poll found 4.2 million people were ready to take part in Dry January and ditch the booze for the first month of 2019.

But clinical director at London Doctors Clinic Dr Preethi Daniel said while in theory aiming for these healthier lifestyles is good for you, they tend not to be as beneficial as people think.

“There's been a huge number of people taking up vegan diets lately in the last decade, certainly in the last two or three years as well,” she said.

“But being vegan is not as straightforward as people think.

“What people tend to rely on is lots of convenience food when you’re vegan, which have a lot more salt and sugar and a lot more additives.

“So unless you are truly going to be fresh, plant-based food eater, just following Veganuary for a month and buying all these vegan products that are on the supermarket shelves probably isn't the right thing.”

Dr Daniel advised that if people were keen to take up the Veganuary challenge or switch to the diet long term, it paid to do plenty of research.

“Suddenly cutting out all dairy and all animal products mean that you could start lacking in Iodine, Vitamin B, and Vitamin D.

“You may start experiencing symptoms such as aches and pains and general lethargy caused be a lack of Vitamin B, a lack of Vitamin D certainly contributes to your mood, bony pain, aches and pains, general lethargy, and a lack of Iodine can even put your thyroid function off kilter.”

She added: “It is important to know what you'll be missing out on if you completely cut out a huge part of our diet.”

For those taking part in Dry January, she said it is worth figuring out exactly what you want to achieve by not drinking alcohol.

“If you think you're going to make a huge amount of difference to you liver function it doesn't quite work like that because the liver does regenerate very quickly, it repairs itself very well.

“So a month is probably too long in fact, even a week or two days of not drinking would be enough for your liver,” she said.

While things like improved sleep, better skin and having more energy in the morning are all achievable by going off the booze for a month, Dr Daniel said any long term effects are minimal once February rolls around

Bingeing or going overboard at the pub to celebrate the achievement does “not do your body any favours.”

“In essence your body is now suddenly used to not having something and then suddenly you're going to overdo it,” she said.

Her advice? Everything in moderation.

“There has never been any civilisation that has ever been sustained by having no alcohol at all or no meat products or animal products at all so it really does depend on one's ethical dilemma as well as ones general health,” she said.

“If people choose to lead a healthy lifestyle my recommendation would be to eat all food groups in moderation, to exercise in moderation, and drink a little in moderation.

“Really, what difference does it make if you eat a burger on the 1st of February if you haven't eaten one for a month?”