Weight Watchers

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WW Inc.

logo
legal form Incorporated
ISIN US9486261061
founding 1963
Seat New York City , United StatesUnited StatesUnited States 
management Mindy Grossman, CEO
Number of employees 18,000
sales $ 1.307 billion
Branch Food
Website https://corporate.ww.com/
As of December 30, 2017

WW , originally Weight Watchers , is an American company that markets a diet method for weight loss .

history

The company was founded in New York State in 1963 by housewife Jean Nidetch (1923–2015) and is now represented in around 30 countries. In 1970 Irmgard and Walter Mayer held the first German Weight Watchers meeting in their Düsseldorf apartment. In 2012 there were over 300,000 participants across Germany.

From 1978 to 1999, Weight Watchers was part of the HJ Heinz Company . In 1999 it was taken over by a Luxembourg investment holding . Weight Watchers International Inc. shares have been traded on the New York Stock Exchange since 2001 . The corporation , based in New York City , was headed by David P. Kirchhoff for almost seven years before he was replaced by James R. Chambers in August 2013.

In October 2015 it was announced that presenter Oprah Winfrey had invested 43 million US dollars in the company and had become the second largest shareholder with a stake of 15 percent. Weight Watchers shares rose 105 percent as a result.

concept

The concept for weight reduction includes a diet with energy-reduced mixed food and meets the requirements of the evidence-based guideline Prevention and Therapy of Obesity 2014 of the DGE for a weight reduction program. Its effectiveness and safety have been demonstrated in randomized , controlled studies. It is a long-term, moderate reduction in energy intake and a change in eating habits. The concept is to assign each food a so-called “point value”, which is calculated from different factors. In principle, all types of food may be consumed in moderation. A fixed amount of points is available to those willing to take off daily, which depends on gender, age, height and weight. The documents, recipe books and point lists are subject to copyright protection and are only available to paying members.

According to two studies by the Medical Research Council in the UK, participation in commercial weight loss programs such as: B. the Weight Watchers program, the desired success is far more often than with standard treatments as part of primary health care in the UK health system. Almost a third of the participants achieved a weight reduction of over 5 percent. According to the DGE, the program enables moderately obese people to achieve a mean weight reduction of 3–4.5 kg (1 year) or 2.9 kg (2 years).

Opportunities to participate

Features of the method are a controlled change in diet as well as fee-based weekly group meetings of those willing to lose weight, at which experiences are exchanged, informed about the concept and healthy diet and the respective successes are checked. The 16,000 or so group leaders have also lost weight with Weight Watchers and have reached their desired weight. The nutritional program can also be carried out for a fee using documents sent by post, online or via an app .

First, a target weight of the person willing to lose weight is set, which is within the weight range ( BMI ) defined as normal weight for the respective body size. Those who have reached their target weight have to eat according to the so-called maintenance program for six weeks before the so-called gold membership or permanent membership can be claimed. Gold members can attend group meetings worldwide for free, as long as they are no more than two kilograms above their target weight.

Weight Watchers branded products

Weight Watchers markets a variety of products as part of its concept, on which the respective point value is indicated; however, these products are not necessary to implement the nutritional concept.

In July 2007, Stiftung Warentest criticized a Weight Watchers product and gave it a rating of unsatisfactory in its quality assessment. Accordingly, the premium cooked ham with 0.6 g fat per portion had an unusually high proportion of connective tissue (collagen breakdown products) that should not be included according to the meat regulation.

Web links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ a b WEIGHT WATCHERS INTERNATIONAL, INC. In: services.corporate-ir.net. February 28, 2018, accessed June 30, 2018 .
  2. ↑ Weight Watchers goes to WW Presseportal.de, September 24, 2018, accessed on September 25, 2018
  3. ↑ Weight Watchers: Fat Plus in the IPO. In: Spiegel Online . November 15, 2001. Retrieved January 8, 2017 .
  4. ↑ yahoo.com, Weight Watchers names new CEO, 2Q results fall August 1, 2013
  5. ↑ US talk show host: Oprah Winfrey buys at Weight Watchers. In: Spiegel Online . October 19, 2015, accessed January 8, 2017 .
  6. ↑ Prevention and Therapy of Obesity 2014 , DGE, accessed on September 5, 2018 (PDF; 1.2 MB)
  7. ↑ Weight Watchers - The Concept and Science Basis , Obesity Journal, 2008.
  8. ^ Double MRC study proves diet clubs can help in the fight against obesity , Medical Research Council
  9. ^ S. Heshka, JW Anderson et al. a .: Weight loss with self-help compared with a structured commercial program: a randomized trial. In: JAMA. Volume 289, Number 14, April 2003, pp. 1792-1798, doi : 10.1001 / jama.289.14.1792 , PMID 12684357 .
  10. ↑ ML Dansinger, JA Gleason et al. a .: Comparison of the Atkins, Ornish, Weight Watchers, and Zone diets for weight loss and heart disease risk reduction: a randomized trial. In: JAMA. Volume 293, Number 1, January 2005, pp. 43-53, doi : 10.1001 / jama.293.1.43 , PMID 15632335 .
  11. ↑ Ham test by Stiftung Warentest In: test 8/2007, page 26 and test.de from July 26, 2007.