Nutrisystem is a commercial provider of weight loss products and services headquartered in

Fort Washington, Pennsylvania Fort Washington is a census-designated place and suburb of Philadelphia in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 5,446 at the 2010 census. History Prior to the Revolutionary War the Fort Washington area was settle ...

. Nutrisystem's initial product in 1972 was a liquid protein diet, but the company changed its offering after

Slim-Fast SlimFast is an American company headquartered in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida that markets an eponymous brand of shakes, bars, snacks, packaged meals, and other dietary supplement foods sold in the U.S., Canada, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, ...

came to prominence in that market. The company originally offered weight loss counseling and products in

brick and mortar Brick and mortar (also bricks and mortar or B&M) refers to a physical presence of an organization or business in a building or other structure. The term ''brick-and-mortar business'' is often used to refer to a company that possesses or leases r ...

centers, but in 1999, Nutrisystem moved to a

direct-to-consumer Direct-to-consumer (DTC) or business-to-consumer (B2C) is the business model of selling products directly to customers and thereby bypassing any third-party retailers, wholesalers, or any other middlemen. Direct-to-consumer sales are usually tr ...

business model, selling its products and programs on the Internet and by telephone. The company launched its mobile platform in 2010. WebDiet, Inc., a Silicon Valley startup, accused Nutrisystem of stealing their technology, but the case was dismissed in May, 2014. In 2021, Stephen Mikulak was named President of Nutrisystem. In 2015, the firm acquired the

South Beach Diet The South Beach Diet is a popular fad diet developed by Arthur Agatston and promoted in a best-selling 2003 book.Sandra Bastin for University of Kentucky Extension Service. August 1998; revised March 2004University of Kentucky Extension Service: F ...

brand. In December 2018,

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announced that it would acquire the Nutrisystem brand. On October 19, 2020, Kainos Capital acquired the brand from Tivity Health.

Efficacy and criticism

systematic review A systematic review is a Literature review, scholarly synthesis of the evidence on a clearly presented topic using critical methods to identify, define and assess research on the topic. A systematic review extracts and interprets data from publ ...

in 2015 concluded that Nutrisystem "shows promise" because, in the short term, studies have shown that Nutrisystem was more effective at weight-loss than a control group, but found no studies of long-term efficacy. , four weeks of a basic Nutrisystem plan costs the average American customer $274.99. In light of this expense, the

Mayo Clinic The Mayo Clinic () is a nonprofit American academic medical center focused on integrated health care, education, and research. It employs over 4,500 physicians and scientists, along with another 58,400 administrative and allied health staff, ...

lists one of the disadvantages of the diet to be its potentially "prohibitive" cost. Obesity specialist

Fatima Cody Stanford Fatima Cody Stanford is an American obesity medicine physician, internist, and pediatrician and an associate professor of medicine and pediatrics at Harvard Medical School. She is one of the most highly cited scientists in the field of obesity. ...

writes that a potential disadvantage of the diet is that it complicates social eating because a person following the Nutrisystem plan has to follow a distinct dietary program.

References

External links

* {{authority control 1972 establishments in Pennsylvania 2019 mergers and acquisitions American companies established in 1972 American corporate subsidiaries Brand name diet products Companies based in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania Food and drink companies established in 1972 Food and drink companies of the United States Companies formerly listed on the Nasdaq Upper Dublin Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania Weight loss companies