The Atkins diet – eating nothing but fat and protein – was so popular in the late 1990s because when the human body does not receive its energy from carbohydrates it triggers ketosis.

The body starts to consume itself and the weight falls off. Unfortunately, the founder of the Atkins diet is dead and the company that owned the rights went bankrupt last year as thin people with bad breath woke up to its long-term health risks. A big question for institutional investors is whether the private equity diet poses the same danger.