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While in the Department of Medicine at Cambridge University, Howard's team ran a longstanding "lipid clinic" at Addenbrookes Hospital between 1973 and 1980. Howard collaborated with Ian MacLean Baird, then a consultant at West Middlesex Hospital, to devise a low-calorie diet formula designed for morbidly obese patients. This was initially named "Howard's Diet".
While in the Department of Medicine at Cambridge University, Howard's team ran a longstanding "lipid clinic" at Addenbrookes Hospital between 1973 and 1980. Howard collaborated with Ian MacLean Baird, then a consultant at West Middlesex Hospital, to devise a low-calorie diet formula designed for morbidly obese patients. This was initially named "Howard's Diet".


Also in 1973, Howard began to direct Dennis Jones, a nutritionist and specialist in food chemistry, to convert the research concept into a commercially viable formulation. In 1979, this emerged in the USA as The Cambridge Diet<ref>[https://www.diet.com/g/cambridge-diet The Cambridge Diet USA]</ref>. The patents of which Howard was a co-inventor were initially licensed to a Californian company, Cambridge Plan International (CPI). In 1982, Howard and family members formed Cambridge Nutrition Limited in the UK. As a result, from 1984 to 1986 there were two competing "Cambridge Diet" companies in existence, as CPI had separately launched in various countries, including a pre-launch in UK. In 1985, Howard and John Marks wrote a book ''The Cambridge Diet – A Manual for Health Professionals''<ref>{{Cite book| first1 =John |last1 =Marks|first2 =Alan|last2 =Howard | date = 1986| title = The Cambridge Diet, A manual for health professionals| publisher = Lancaster, England ; Boston : MTP Press}}</ref>. In 1986 a Howard Foundation company bought out CPI's international rights. From 1985 to the late 1980s, the [[Cambridge Diet]] was strongly promoted in the UK by Howard using direct marketing and thereafter, mainly through distributors, in various Northern European countries and around the world.
Also in 1973, Howard began to direct Dennis Jones, a nutritionist and specialist in food chemistry, to convert the research concept into a commercially viable formulation. In 1979, this emerged in the USA as The Cambridge Diet<ref>[https://www.diet.com/g/cambridge-diet The Cambridge Diet USA]</ref>. The patents of which Howard was a co-inventor were initially licensed to a Californian company, Cambridge Plan International (CPI). In 1982, Howard and family members formed Cambridge Nutrition Limited in the UK. As a result, from 1984 to 1986 there were two competing "Cambridge Diet" companies in existence, as CPI had separately launched in various countries, including a pre-launch in UK. In 1985, Howard and John Marks wrote a book ''The Cambridge Diet – A Manual for Health Professionals''<ref>{{Cite book| first1 =John |last1 =Marks|first2 =Alan|last2 =Howard | date = 1986| title = The Cambridge Diet, A manual for health professionals| publisher = Lancaster, England ; Boston : MTP Press|url =https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-94-011-8011-5}}</ref>. In 1986 a Howard Foundation company bought out CPI's international rights. From 1985 to the late 1980s, the [[Cambridge Diet]] was strongly promoted in the UK by Howard using direct marketing and thereafter, mainly through distributors, in various Northern European countries and around the world.


In the early 2000s, the manufacturing company at Corby, Northants became the group headquarters for the UK and export functions. In 2005, Howard directed that the remaining business be sold through a management buyout. The company changed its name first to the Cambridge Weight Plan and then in 2018 to The 1:1 Diet<ref>[https://www.one2onediet.com/about-us The 1:1 Diet].</ref>
In the early 2000s, the manufacturing company at Corby, Northants became the group headquarters for the UK and export functions. In 2005, Howard directed that the remaining business be sold through a management buyout. The company changed its name first to the Cambridge Weight Plan and then in 2018 to The 1:1 Diet<ref>[https://www.one2onediet.com/about-us The 1:1 Diet].</ref>

Revision as of 09:41, 6 May 2020

Alan Norman Howard
Howard in 1999
Born16 March 1929 (1929-03-16) (age 95)
Norwich, England
EducationCity of Norwich School,
Downing College Cambridge
Alma materDowning College, Cambridge
Occupation(s)Nutritionist and Philanthropist
Known forThe Cambridge Diet
Howard Foundation
Spouse(s)Grace Elizabeth (née Lee) m. 1952 d. 2008;
Lydia (née Bentley) m. 2008
Children2
AwardsFellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC) 1968
Honorary Fellowship of Downing College, Cambridge, 1987[1]

Alan Howard is an English nutritionist. His research interests are in the field of nutrition, initially in the nutritional relationships associated with coronary heart disease and the treatment of obesity and later into eye and brain nutrition. His inventions and patents related to very-low-calorie diets enabled him to establish the Howard Foundation.

Education

Howard gained an MA in natural sciences and PhD in immunology at Downing College Cambridge.[2] He then trained as a nutritionist at the Medical Research Council's Dunn Nutritional Laboratory also in Cambridge. He won a scholarship to Downing College in 1948 to read Natural Sciences (Chemistry, Physics, Metallurgy and Mathematics). For his PhD he worked in the Department of Medicine with Robin Coombs, a notable immunologist.

Academic career

Howard was at Cambridge University 1960–1992; the later part of this was in the Department of Medicine under Professor Ivor Mills, a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, and then as College Lecturer in Nutritional Research at Downing College (Cambridge University).

Early work on atherosclerosis

In the 1950s, Howard began working on experimental atherosclerosis. He continued this study while at the Department of Pathology and was secretary for the first International Symposium On Atherosclerosis held in Athens in 1966 and was an editor of the proceedings.[3]

Early work on obesity

Howard performed clinical trials on the high-protein "Cambridge Formula Loaf" and published a paper in The General Practitioner reporting positive results.[4] He then became secretary to the newly formed Obesity Association (aka The Obesity Society of Great Britain and now the Association for the Study of Obesity).[5]

Howard became secretary and later chairman of The Food Education Society from 1970 until 1990. In July 1974, Howard was invited to take part in the BBC series Don't just sit there ... with William Rushton and others.[6] He then co-authored a book Don't just sit there.[7]

Howard and George A. Bray (from the University of California) organised the first International Congress on Obesity (ICO) which was held at the Royal College of Physicians in London in October 1974[8]. They were also the founding co-editors of The International Journal of Obesity which began in 1977. These early initiatives led in 1985/86 to the formation of the International Association for the Study of Obesity which since 2014 is known simply as World Obesity.

The Cambridge Diet

While in the Department of Medicine at Cambridge University, Howard's team ran a longstanding "lipid clinic" at Addenbrookes Hospital between 1973 and 1980. Howard collaborated with Ian MacLean Baird, then a consultant at West Middlesex Hospital, to devise a low-calorie diet formula designed for morbidly obese patients. This was initially named "Howard's Diet".

Also in 1973, Howard began to direct Dennis Jones, a nutritionist and specialist in food chemistry, to convert the research concept into a commercially viable formulation. In 1979, this emerged in the USA as The Cambridge Diet[9]. The patents of which Howard was a co-inventor were initially licensed to a Californian company, Cambridge Plan International (CPI). In 1982, Howard and family members formed Cambridge Nutrition Limited in the UK. As a result, from 1984 to 1986 there were two competing "Cambridge Diet" companies in existence, as CPI had separately launched in various countries, including a pre-launch in UK. In 1985, Howard and John Marks wrote a book The Cambridge Diet – A Manual for Health Professionals[10]. In 1986 a Howard Foundation company bought out CPI's international rights. From 1985 to the late 1980s, the Cambridge Diet was strongly promoted in the UK by Howard using direct marketing and thereafter, mainly through distributors, in various Northern European countries and around the world.

In the early 2000s, the manufacturing company at Corby, Northants became the group headquarters for the UK and export functions. In 2005, Howard directed that the remaining business be sold through a management buyout. The company changed its name first to the Cambridge Weight Plan and then in 2018 to The 1:1 Diet[11]

Later research on very low calorie diet and coronary heart disease

Howard established Howard Foundation Research (HFR) in 1986 to carry out scientific research into low-calorie diets under the direction of Stephen Kreitzman. In 2000, Howard directed Howard Foundation Research Ltd be sold under licence to managers who devised the Lipotrim programme to allow the formula to be prescribed privately by health practitioners in UK and Ireland.

In 1991, Howard established the COAG Trace Elements Laboratory, based at Papworth Hospital, near Cambridge. The COAG Laboratory ran until 2000 carrying out research into aspects of nutrition and health, especially the prevention of coronary heart disease. When the laboratory closed, the equipment was transferred to the University of Ulster and the Poznan University of Medical Sciences, for the continuation of research programmes.

Macular degeneration and carotenoids

In 1995, Howard started work with Richard Bone and John Landrum at Florida International University. Together they patented a dietary supplement containing meso-zeaxanthin, lutein and zeaxanthin.[12].

In 2009, Howard began working with the Macular Pigment Research Group at the Waterford Institute of Technology in Ireland. In 2019, Howard was awarded an honorary fellowship to the institute[13].

References

  1. ^ Downing College Honorary Fellow
  2. ^ Celebrating 70 years since Dr Alan Howard's matriculation
  3. ^ Paoletti, Rodolfo; Miras, C. J.; Howard, Alan N. (1968). Recent Advances in Atherosclerosis. Basel; S. Karger. ISBN 978-3805503839.
  4. ^ Howard AN, Anderson TB (1968). "The Treatment of Obesity with a High-Protein Loaf". The Practitioner. 201 (203): 491–496. PMID 5683752.
  5. ^ Early history of the ASO
  6. ^ "Don't Just Sit There..." BBC One London. 1974-07-24.
  7. ^ Murray, Al; Perigoe, Mary; Howard, Alan (1978). Don't just sit there. Barron's Educational Series Inc. ISBN 9780812007893.
  8. ^ The first Symposium on Obesity
  9. ^ The Cambridge Diet USA
  10. ^ Marks, John; Howard, Alan (1986). The Cambridge Diet, A manual for health professionals. Lancaster, England ; Boston : MTP Press.
  11. ^ The 1:1 Diet.
  12. ^ UK patent GB2301775, Howard Alan Norman; Bone Richard Andrew & Landrum John Thomas, "High dosage lutein and zeaxanthin for macula therapy", issued 1996-02-24, assigned to Howard Foundation 
  13. ^ WIT Awards Honorary Fellowship To Philanthropist Dr Alan Howard.
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