Baby food meals latest fad embraced by lifestyle dieters in US

Just like fashion trends, diets go in and out of style.

Remember the grapefruit diet? The cabbage soup diet? How about the Atkins diet, which banned white bread but allowed fatty cheese and pork rinds? That was so 2004.

In 2010, dieters are going gaga over one of the most peculiar fad diets yet - the baby food diet.

To follow it, all you need to do is, say, down 14 jars of baby food a day and eat a healthy, adult dinner.

Before your gag reflex kicks in, consider this: Baby food is made mostly from vitamin-rich fruits and vegetables, with few additives.

It is low in calories - an average jar contains between 50 and 100 - plus it is cheap, simple to prepare and highly portable.

But is it good for you? We will get to that later.

For now, all you need to know is eating it could give you actress Jennifer Aniston's body.

That is according to Marie Claire UK, which published an article in May about Aniston's 3kg weight loss.

In the article, Aniston's trainer, Tracy Anderson, described her "baby food cleanse," which incorporated easy-to-digest mini-meals such as smoothies, oatmeal and soup.

But some took "baby food" literally. Blogs buzzed. Rumours swirled.

More celebrities - including actresses Reese Witherspoon and Marcia Cross - were said to be on the diet.

Even though Aniston and Cross denied those rumours (and Witherspoon did not address them at all), people began talking about and even trying the diet.

There is no word yet on whether the fad has had any impact on baby food sales.

It is easy to see how adults could get into eating baby food, even without the Aniston association.

It comes in gourmet flavours and is cheap.

But the baby food diet has big nutritional drawbacks, according to Mitzi Dulan, a registered dietitian.

The biggest: Baby food is made for babies, not adults.

"We need more protein than a baby needs," said Dulan, who added protein provides energy, strengthens the immune system and helps maintain muscle mass.

People who do not get enough become weak, tired and cranky.

In other words, eating like a toddler can make you behave like one, particularly if you do not like what you are eating.

"If somebody really wants to have it now and again, that would be fine," Dulan said.

"But it's a snack - not a meal replacement."

Unless, of course, you are a baby.

And if you still think eating like an infant will give you Jennifer Aniston's body - well, it might just be time to grow up.