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ORGANIZATIONS
American Dietetic Association. 120 South Riverside Plaza,
Suite 2000, Chicago, IL 60606-6995. Telephone: (800)
877-1600.<http://www.eatright.org>.
Center for Emerging Issues in Science. Life Sciences
Research Office, Inc. 9650 Rockville Pike, Bethesda,
MD 20814. (301) 634-7030.<http://www.LSRO.org>.
European Nutrigenomics Organisation (NuGO). Nutri-
genomics Society.<http://www.nugo.org>.
Institute for the Future. 124 University Avenue, 2nd Floor,
Palo Alto, CA 94301. (650) 854-6322.<http://
http://www.iftf.org/>.
National Center for Minority Health and Health
Disparities (NCMHD) Center of Excellence for
Nutrigenomics. Section of Molecular and Cellular
Biology, University of California, 1 Shields Avenue,
Davis, CA 95616. (530) 752-3263.<http://nutrigeno
mics.ucdavis.edu>.
National Human Genome Research Institute. National
Institutes of Health. Building 31, Room 4B09, 31
Center Drive, MSC 2152, 9000 Rockville Pike,Bethesda, MD 20892-2152. (301) 402-0911.<http://
http://www.genome.gov>.Margaret Alic, PhDNutriSystem
Definition
NutriSystem is a commercial weight loss program
based in the Philadelphia area that delivers heat-and-
eat foods directly to the customer’s home in 28-day
packages. Its products have been described as ‘‘fast
food for weight loss.’’ Customers select one of six
specialized subprograms, each of which offers a pre-
packaged assortment of food items called ‘‘Favorites
Package’’ or a completely customized selection. As of
2007 NutriSystem has about 800,000 customers in the
United States and Canada. In addition to its meal
delivery programs, the company offersdietary supple-
ments, including a multivitamin called Nutrihance. It
has also recently formed a business partnership with a
network of franchised fitness centers called Slim and
Tone. In early 2007, NutriSystem combined its direct
online marketing of diet foods with its network divi-
sion of franchised consultants. The company’s market
value was estimated at $2 billion as of early 2007.Origins
NutriSystem began in 1972 as a producer of a
liquidproteindiet, which it abandoned in 1978 as a
result of competition from Slim-Fast, Carnation
weight loss products, and other over-the-counter
liquid diet drinks. NutriSystem then started a chain
of 1,200 bricks-and-mortar weight loss centers roughly
similar toWeight Watchers; dieters came to the cen-
ters in person to weigh in and then purchased prepack-
aged portion-controlled meals to take home. The
company went bankrupt in the early 1990s but rein-
vented itself in 1999 as an online meal delivery service.
As of the early 2000s, customers may order their
monthly food assortments by telephone as well as
online. Although a free weight loss counseling service
is available by telephone or online chat, fewer than
20% of customers make use of it.
NutriSystem conducted a survey in 2005 to gather
information about customer demographics, in the
course of which the company discovered that most of
its customers were women between the ages of 20 and- In 2006 it began to target men as customers, using
endorsements from such well-known professional ath-
letes as John Kruk, Don Shula, and Dan Martino. Of
NutriSystem