An entire nation took part in a mass diet that saw them eating less food and exercising more.
The result was an average weight loss of 5kg per head, a drop in the number of deaths from diabetes and a huge drop in the number of deaths from heart disease and stroke.
This story was reported in the Independent this week and the country in question was Cuba.
Cubans were forced to eat less when food became scarce in the early 1990s, following the collapse of the Soviet Union.
The Independent reported how fuel was also in short supply, meaning people had to stop using their vehicles and start walking or using bicycles.
There were hardly any buses and cars on the roads and the government began handing out bikes for people to use. Farmers were also forced to work more manually, instead of using machines.
Researchers studying the country found that when the economic crisis ended in the late 1990s, people started eating more and exercising less. Cases of diabetes, heart disease and stroke increased again.
The team called it the “Cuban experience” and talked about the “potential health benefits of reversing the global obesity epidemic.”
An entire nation is obviously not going to diet voluntarily without being forced by an economic crisis, but it does just remind us how our lifestyles these days can really affect our health.
I can just see it now, the latest celebrity health craze – The Cuban Diet. Film stars will be out working on the farms and spending just £5 a week on food to get the perfect figure.