Were Travis Bickle and Victor Meldrew on the Atkin's Diet?

A team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has put another nail in the coffin of the Atkin's Diet. The diet, which forsakes all carbohydrates like pasta and potatoes, can apparently make you very grumpy.

The problem is that carbohydrates boost the body's production of the brain chemical serotonin. Low-levels of serotonin are linked with depression. The result: people on the Atkin's Diet are actually making themselves mildly depressed. So how long has your boss been on Atkin's?

The research also found that carbohydrates boosted serotonin best when eaten alone rather than with proteins. So while a meal like pasta will give you a serotonin lift, adding chicken will make the process less effective. Hmm. Portion of chips, anyone? 

In the other major health spat in the US this month, an American health advisory body is in hot water after giving misleading advice on how much liquid to drink.

The Institute of Medicine advised relying on your thirst but the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) have said this is not always enough.

They point out that most of us drink out of habit rather than in direct response to our thirst. 'Our fluid intake is mostly behavioral,' Dr. W Larry Kenney, the president of the ACSM, told Reuters. 'On a daily basis, people drink when they eat meals, when they get a little thirsty, when they walk past a water fountain.

'During heavy or prolonged exercise or long summer periods of hot weather, thirst doesn't accurately tell the body how much fluid has been lost via sweating.'

Drinking a bit more when it's hot may be common-sense but how do you accurately replace fluid lost during exercise?

To prevent drinking too little or too much water, Kenney advises exercisers to weigh themselves before and after exercising. Drink a little before and during and try to drink enough afterwards to get back to your body weight before.

And, unless you've had a major workout, forget the expensive branded 'sports' drinks. For people who exercise for less than an hour, there is little evidence that sports drinks with electrolytes and carbohydrates are necessary, according to the ACSM, though they may be appropriate for people exercising for longer than an hour.

You can also monitor your fluid intake by keeping an eye on your urine. It should be a very pale yellow colour. The browner it is, the more you need a glass or two of water.