The Cambridge diet that available today is based on a diet developed in the 1970’s by Alan Howard, PhD and his colleagues at Cambridge University. The original diet was designed to be nutritionally balanced and low in calories to encourage weight loss.

From Dr. Howard’s work came a new line of weight loss supplements. There is a glut of such products in the market, and new ones continue to be developed. Let us try to find out if the 2006 version of the Cambridge diet is set apart from the rest as far as effectiveness, safety, and do-ability is concerned.

The Cambridge diet starts by putting the body in what it calls “natural” fasting mode. The diet uses the meal replacement approach in which a 110 calorie drink made from powdered mixes is taken instead of regular meals. Each serving has 33% of the required daily vitamins, minerals, elements, and electrolytes plus 10-11 grams of proteins, 15 grams of carbohydrates, and 1 gram of fat. There are also diet bars available. At least 8 glasses of water is required on this diet. As we see it, this diet seems to have nothing new to offer.

In essence, this diet is really the substitution of the diet product for real food. By taking only the mixes and diet drinks, caloric intake is restricted to 330 daily. The starvation that results from this would definitely result in weight loss but we have our doubts as to whether dieters would be able to sustain it. The truth of the matter is, we do not look with favor on weight loss programs that promote artificial nutrition to lose weight and do not include natural food.

People who follow such diet plans usually end up gaining back the weight they had lost once they return to eating normal food.

We think it is very good that there is a doctor-managed component to this diet for pregnant and nursing women, those taking diuretics or any medications, and for people who are being treated for hypoglycemia, heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, diabetes, gout, and persistent infections.

This concept is not new, there are many variations of this type of diet being sold in the market. We are not convinced of the validity of supplement-based diets. The Cambridge Diet, devoid of real food, is a very difficult diet to manage but it certainly looks like one in which people would really lose weight. However, as we have pointed out, these artificially created weight losses would most likely return when dieters stop taking The Cambridge Diet products.
We firmly believe in the old fashioned way of losing weight which is eating a sensible diet of fruits, vegetables, and protein, combined with a moderate exercise regimen.

In spite of our reservations, we are pleased about The Cambridge Diet supplements being available in different flavors and having a pleasant taste. We think the message board on the website put up as a support forum for people involved in the diet plan, is a helpful feature.

Positives

• Contact number for direct help provided on website
• Message board provided on website
• Come in a variety of flavors

Negatives

• Has received negative feedback from many customers some of whom have posted their comments on consumer blogs and forums. Interested consumers can click here to read more about these issues in this Cambridge Diet blog.
• Natural food replaced with artificial meals
• A borderline starvation diet at best
• Continued expense of buying the product

This diet is for people who are willing to use a starvation method to lose weight quickly. As far as we are concerned, weight loss success from starving is always short-lived. We also think that the plan offered is difficult to manage and maintain. An individual would not be able to continually subsist on such an extremely low calorie diet.

Admittedly however, there is always a market for this type of diet. Those desperate to lose weight would be willing to try product. A case of the Cambridge Diet Food for Life mix is priced at $135.90 or $157.90 (depending on the version).