A mother of two has won more than £800,000 at the High Court after she claimed that a radical detox diet left her brain-damaged and epileptic.

Dawn Page, 52, said that she was told to drink four extra pints of water a day and reduce her salt intake to prevent fluid retention and reduce weight.

Within days of going on “The Amazing Hydration Diet” she began vomiting and, less than a week after starting the diet, suffered a massive epileptic fit. She was taken to intensive care but doctors were unable to prevent permanent brain injury.

Mrs Page now suffers from epilepsy and a “cognitive deficit” that affects her memory, concentration and her ability to speak normally. She was forced to quit her job as a conference organiser, suffers from frequent mood swings and relies on her husband, Geoff, for help around the house.

Mrs Page secured an £810,000 payout last week from Barbara Nash, the nutritionist who devised the diet, after more than six years of legal battle.

Mrs Nash, who calls herself a “nutritional therapist and life coach”, denies any fault and the settlement was concluded without admission of liability. Mrs Nash’s insurance company will pay the damages.

In September 2001 Mrs Page paid Mrs Nash £50 for an initial consultation. She said that she was advised to drink four pints of mineral water per day as well as the tea and other fluids that she normally drank.

After a few days she started vomiting but was allegedly assured by Mrs Nash that it was “all part of the detoxification process”. Mrs Page, who weighed 12 stone (76kg), was even urged to increase her water intake to six pints a day and cut her salt intake further.

Mr Page said yesterday that the settlement reflected the seriousness of his wife’s injuries. He said of his wife: “She was not obese or even mildly obese but, like a lot of women, Dawn liked to look after her weight and was not having much success with the normal ways of doing that.

“Her life has been seriously affected, perhaps ruined, by this fad-type way of losing weight,” he added. Mrs Page relies on written notes to remember basic instructions and finds it hard to recall simple information.

Mr Page, the project manager for a packaging company, covers all the bills as his wife cannot work. He said: “She can’t drive and takes medication every day. And she will do so for life.”

Mr Page, who brought the legal action against Mrs Nash in 2001, said that the fight had been worth it.

Mrs Nash, who is based in Wheatley, Oxfordshire, and has a diploma in natural nutrition, was unavailable to comment last night.

Plexus Law, the firm representing Mrs Nash, released a statement that read: “On behalf of our client, we wish to make it clear that all allegations of substandard practice made on behalf of Mrs Page in the litigation have always been, and continue to remain, firmly denied. Equally, the information contained in the medical records suggesting that Mrs Page appeared to have drunk five litres of water on the day that she was admitted to hospital, and therefore disregarded advice given by our client, were also denied by Mrs Page.

“In our view, as a recognition of this, the settlement amount agreed to be paid was less than half of the total amount claimed and the compromise that was offered and accepted was on the basis of no admission of liability.”

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