Women experience unexpected pregnancies, hair loss with Cambridge Weight Plan, Australia’s latest fad diet

Even if nutrition experts have named the healthiest diets in the world, topped by the Mediterranean diet, some people who want to lose weight prefer fad diets instead. The latest fad diet to his Australia, however, has a lot of side effects.

The side effects of the Cambridge Weight Plan include unexpected pregnancy, stopped menstruation, hair loss, leg cramps, nausea, rash and a general feeling of coldness. These possible side effects are listed on the diet’s website.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that about 10,000 Australians have tried the new fad diet now being investigated by the government if the products that the company sells could be sold legally in Australia. The products include shakes, soups, porridges and chocolate bars.

But a spokesman for Cambridge insists the diet is safe and scientifically validated. He adds that in more than 30 years the company has sold products for weight loss, no customer has experience serious side effects which do not last long.

Two Greek-Australians introduced in 2012 the diet which is the product of a research done in England in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It has six stage, with the first step the most severe wherein the dieters cut their intake to only 440 calories a day.

People on that stage eat only three servings of shakes, soups, porridge and chocolate bars. Professor Alan Howard, inventor of the diet, says the first three days are the worst when the body enters “into a sate triggered by chemical reactions which totally reduces the feeling of hunger.” He compares it to the euphoric feeling after having one drink.

The packets that Cambridge sells, which is around £2.25 (AUD$4.41) per meal, of three soups or shakes per day totals 43 grammes of carbohydrates and 43 grammes of protein, below the 50 grammes required by the UN standards. But Cambridge insist the company does not follow international standards since its products are not food for special medical purposes.

The company insists the benchmarks are not binding on it for total replacement diets in Australia since it is not a formulated meal replacement. The Department of Health & Human Services confirms the agency is examining Cambridge’s products to assess its compliance with UN standards.