An American nutritionist says that the morning banana diet can be a recipe for disaster for most people.

Kerri Glassman, a contributor to the programme 'The Early Show', says that Japanese people are particularly crazy about the morning diet of bananas.

According to her, people there are suggested that they eat as many as bananas with worm water as they want for breakfast. After that, they can have a basic lunch that can include pizza and fries, and a mid-afternoon meal of snacks, which can even be a sweet.

And the dinner, which has to be before 8 p.m., can include anything an individual wants.

People are asked not to have anything after dinner, and to go to bed before midnight.

"You can have as many bananas as you want for breakfast? Maybe the idea is you get so full, you don't want to eat a big lunch, or a big dinner?" said a sceptical Maggie Rodriguez, co-anchor on the show.

Glassman, however, said: "That's part of it. Bananas do have fibre, and they're gonna help fill you up to some extent. But still, many people we know, no matter how many bananas you have for breakfast, (if) they're told you can have whatever you want for lunch and dinner, you could be having a turkey sandwich, trying to lose weight, and then all of a sudden, you switch to pizza and fries, you're gonna gain weight."