Dieting has been big business in Britain since the postwar affluence of the 1960s, with the rise of the trendsetters like Weight Watchers, but has really only taken off in the last two decades as national waistlines have bulged. Obesity in the UK may not quite be at US levels, but levels are skyrocketing--the NHS notes that between 1993 and 2007 alone obesity nearly doubled from 13% of the population to 24%. There are many reasons for this of course, from the rise of calorie-laden ready meals to increased use of partially hydrogenated oils and perhaps even artificial sweeteners, some of whose effects we still don't fully understand as well as increasingly sedentary lifestyles. Whatever the reason, more and more Brits are struggling to lose weight, and there are many companies out there seeking to help, at a price.

Many companies are reputable, but many are not, and unregulated, wild claims of massive weight loss are rife in advertising. Diet-Review.co.uk seeks to evaluate and review the most talked about diets, with reasonable, verifiable claims and records and healthy methods. We'd like to think our approach is more scientific and rigorous than many other guides and advice on the web--for instance we haven't seen any other site which reviews slimming pills by their actual clinical trial data (for those handfuls of supplements that actually have clinical trials--we'd steer clear of those which don't). With over one billion pounds spent each year on these slimming pills, most of which are untested and useless, we felt we had to weigh in and point out the few products which scientific studies have actually shown to work.

There are many approaches, some diets which work for some people, and others which work for others. You may like a sociable, weekly group meeting where peer pressure helps motivate you, or you may dread this as "public humiliation" and prefer an online weekly tracking service, or perhaps you have the willpower to go it alone armed only with a book. For this reason, we look at several different types of diet, which we reckon are the best of their type, and list them all in our perceived order of effectiveness. Though again, the most effective diet for you won't necessarily be number one pick, but we'd like to think it's more likely to be near the top of our list than the bottom.

We at Diet-Review.co.uk will guide the way with our reviews and rankings, helping you pick the best.