Lose weight ... it's kosher

Kosher food is good for you and can even help you lose weight, scientists said today.

Madonna and Jerry Hall are among celebrities who have reportedly taken to the strict orthodox Jewish diet, while a number of Hollywood clinics are already providing kosher diet therapy.

A new study reports how scientists and dieticians at Israel's Afula University fed one group of people a strictly kosher diet while a second group were fed exactly the same number of calories in non-kosher dishes containing pork, shellfish, mixed meat and dairy products.

Over six weeks, the kosher group lost weight while the other group gained pounds.

Prof Mordechai Ochel, who devised the experiment, said the research may provide the clue as to why Jews were instructed to obey strict dietary laws in the first place.

"There seem to be clear nutritional advantages in eating kosher food," he said. "When meat and dairy products are eaten together, the body finds difficulty in breaking down the two types of protein simultaneously.

"Similarly, pork and shellfish contain an enzyme which interferes with the body's ability to digest and causes it to store a greater percentage of non-kosher food as fatty tissue.

"It could be that kashrut (the kosher diet - meaning "fit and proper") is God's way of keeping his chosen people fit and trim."

Under strictly kosher dietary rules, animal meat must come only from clovenhoofed beasts that chew the cud; meat and milk must never be consumed together and fish must have scales, fins and backbones - ruling out shellfish.

There are 35 restaurants in London licensed by Beth Din - the court of the Chief Rabbi - to serve kosher food.