The Cambridge Diet is an extreme low-calorie diet dating back to the 1960s. Originally used in British clinics, it is now available over the counter via its distributors. While the diet can be an effective way of losing weight quickly, it could potentially be dangerous if continued over longer time periods. Among its potential side effects are malnutrition, loss of muscle tissue from essential organs and mood disorders.
The Cambridge Diet
The Cambridge Diet consists of three or four liquid meals or snack bars a day, which adds up to about 500 calories. The daily calorie intake required to maintain the body weight of an average person ranges from 1,500 to 3,000 calories, depending on age, gender, body weight and muscle mass. The diet is so severe that it requires preparing one to two weeks in advance by slowly reducing food intake. After four weeks on the diet, healthy regular food options are slowly added to the Cambridge meals for body weight maintenance.
Malnutrition
One of the risks of the Cambridge Diet is malnutrition. Although the Cambridge meals contain essential nutrients, these nutrients are chemically produced and added to the powder mixes and snack bars. Unlike fresh food, chemically produced nutrients do not always enter into the bloodstream through the digestive system. As the Cambridge Diet contains no fresh food items, there is a risk of not getting nutrients that are essential to the optimal function of vital organs.
Loss of Muscle Tissue
When the body goes through a period of starvation, it prioritizes burning fat and sugar to using protein. However, if the starvation goes on for a long time, the body will begin to turn muscle and connective tissue, which is rich in protein, into glucose. With its low-calorie content, the Cambridge Diet mimics starvation and can result in the loss of muscle and connective tissue, if continued for extended time periods. This can lead to a weakening of the heart muscle and connective tissue in the body.
Mood Disorders
Serotonin is one of the dominant neurotransmitters in mood regulation. People suffering from depression or anxiety typically have low levels of serotonin. The brain cannot synthesize serotonin without the essential amino acid tryptophan. As with other essential nutrients, the body depends on a steady dietary supply of essential amino acids. The proper function of serotonin furthermore requires vitamin B and the essential fat omega-3 fatty acid. Because the Cambridge Diet supplies these essential nutrients in a synthesized form rather than as naturally occurring in fresh food, there is a risk that the diet can lead to a depletion of these nutrients, which then can cause mood disorders.
References
- Everyday Diet; The Cambridge Diet
- Cambridge; The Cambridge Diet; Pam Turner
- CBN; Omega 3 Fish Oils and Diet Help Alleviate Depression; Barry Sears
- "Journal of Psychiatry and Neurosciece"; How to Increase Serotonin in the Human Brain Without Drugs; Simon N. Young; November 2007
- "Strength and Conditioning Journal"; Low-Carbohydrate Diets and High-Intensity Anaerobic Exercise; G. Gregory Haff, Ph.D., and Adrian Whitley; August 2002
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