Type of Counseling: by personal "coach"/independent Herbalife distributor

Typical Cost: under $250

Type Program: do-it-yourself, meal replacements

Type of Foods Used: shakes, nutrition bars, regular grocery store foods

At-Home or Direct Mail Plan Available? Yes

Headquarters

Herbalife International of America, Inc.

1800 Century Park East

Century City, CA 90067

Phone: (310-410-9600 )

website: www.herbalife.com

Herbalife, until July 2002, was a public company. It was then taken private by an investor group, in partnership with some of the company’s distributors and senior management. As a result of the merger, the company is now privately owned.

Founded in 1980, Herbalife became one of the world’s largest weight management and nutritional supplements companies, conducting business in 59 nations in the Asia/Pacific Rim, Europe, and the Americas. It went public in 1987. The firm has retail sales of $1.8 billion and claims to have 1+ million independent distributors.

The company's products aren't available in stores. In July 1992, Herbalife launched an international expansion that made its weight loss products and vitamins available in a dozen nations.

In recent years, the company diversified its product offerings by substantially expanding its personal care product line to include skin care, perfumes, hair care, body lotions, color cosmetics, soaps and gel products, and by expanding food and dietary supplement products.

BestDietForMe.com's Position On The Company

When we created BestDietForMe.com, we did not initially include Herbalife in our database of weight loss programs. Why? Because the weight loss products they used to sell, via their Thermojetics line of diet pills, contained ephedra, and ingredient found to be harmful. In our opinion, such do-it-yourself diet pills are easily abused and are not recommended by us and many others. Similarly, we did not include Metabolife either.

However, since the government ban on ephedra, Herbalife has changed. It no longer sells such products, shifting instead to meal replacements that contain no harmful ingredients (ShapeWorks program).

Consequently, we added Herbalife to our database of diet companies and feel a lot better about their weight loss products today. The company is one of the largest multi-level marketing companies in the World, and has been around a long time. Apparently, many American consumers still like to buy from MLM independent distributors--witness the popularity of AMWAY, AVON, Mary Kay Cosmetics and other firms.

Herbalife now offers a calorie-controlled and a carbohydrate-controlled approach to weight loss. This diet plan uses 2 shakes per day as meal replacements, plus one regular food meal.

As a do-it-yourself weight loss program, Herbalife products are distributed exclusively through a multi-level marketing system consisting of an extensive network of distributors, who work on a full-time or part-time basis. Distributors may earn profits by purchasing the company’s products at wholesale prices. Second, distributors may earn profits by selling products to other distributors who do not qualify for the same level of discount as the selling distributor. Third, distributors who sponsor other distributors and establish their own distributor organizations may earn royalties and production bonuses on sales generated by distributors within their organizations.

In May of 2004, Herbalife announced  ShapeWorksÔ , a personalized approach to weight loss. Herbalife’s proprietary ShapescanÔ Body Analysis is the first step in the ShapeWorksÔ personalized program. It is a non-invasive electronic scan to show potential customers their lean body mass, how many calories they burn at rest and target weight. The resulting print-out recommends a person’s customized protein needs for building and maintaining lean muscle mass, enabling them to personalize their protein consumption.

The ShapeWorksÔ shake is a key part of this diet program, and contains a combination of soy and whey proteins. The ShapeWorksÔ program claims to be rounded out with science-based Multivitamin Complex tablets; Herbalifeline, a source of Omega-3 fatty acids; and tablets of Garden7Ô . Garden 7 is a new ShapeWorksÔ exclusive supplement to provide phytonutrients missing from the typical diet.

This diet program also comes with a weight loss eating guide (breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack), plus free support of a "coach" (who is your local Herbalife distributor). Coaches calculate your daily protein requirements, customize your meal plan, and help you overcome obstacles.

The company’s weight-management products include the following:

• meal-replacement protein powder available in five different flavors;

• Multivitamin-Mineral & Herbal Tablets, which provide essential vitamins and nutrients and are part of our weight-management programs;

 • Personalized Protein Powder, a high-quality soy and whey protein source developed to be added to the meal replacements to boost protein intake and decrease hunger;

• weight-loss accelerators, including Total Control®, which address specific challenges associated with dieting, such as lack of energy, hunger and food craving, fluid retention, decreased metabolism and digestive challenges, by building energy, boosting metabolism, curbing appetite and helping to promote weight loss; and

• healthy snacks, formulated to provide between-meal nutrition and satisfaction.

Herbalife’s best-selling meal replacement product had been part of the basic weight management program for 24 years. In March 2004, the firm introduced ShapeWorks™, a personalized protein-based meal replacement program based on the clinical experience and 15 years of meal replacement research of Dr. David Heber, Director of the UCLA Center for Human Nutrition. 

Herbalife used to sell a line of non-prescription diet pills under the name Thermojetics™. Since, the 2003 government ban on ephedra (a key ingredient of these tablets), the company has discontinued this line and shifted focus to a line of meal replacements, ShapeWorksÔ .

Our search for prices of Herbalife weight loss products is by no means all-inclusive and represents prices by a handful of distributors selling their diet products on the Internet. Prices will vary and the reader should by all means "shop around." One should also add shipping and sales tax. Nonetheless, we found the following prices listed for these Herbalife products. This is not a complete listing of company products.

• ShapeWorksÔ Weight Loss Ultimate Plus $298

• ShapeWorksÔ Weight Loss Advanced Plus $202

• ShapeWorksÔ Formula 3 Protein Power $28.50

• ShapeWorksÔ Weight Loss Quickstart $82.95.

In BestDietForMe.com analysts' opinion, the Herbalife.com website today offers more than it used to, in terms of helpful information and tools. As a complement to a do-it-yourself program, it's still not on a par with other companies such as Slim-Fast or South Beach diet, but it's getting better.

The website offers the following tools and information:

* Information about the company and becoming a distributors (business opportunity)

* BMI calculator

* description of the ShapeWorks weight loss program and products

* wellness quiz (brief 10-question survey that produces a personal profile and gives product recommendations--all Herbalife supplements, of course).

* recipes

* articles covering weight loss, nutrition, fitness, supplements, skin and hair care.

* Tool to locate a local Herbalife distributor. You have to complete a form and give your name, full mailing address, phone, email, age, goals, etc. Then you'll be contacted by a "coach."

Positives... The company is now selling weight loss products (meal replacements) that are not dangerous or controversial. The company has a long track record in the weight loss field-it's not a company that sprang up yesterday. The website's features and usefulness have improved. In BestDietForMe.com analysts' opinion, for dieters that prefer a non-structured, do-it-yourself, fairly inexpensive approach and who are turned off by group meetings and embarassing weigh-ins, this may be a good option. They may also like the personalized attention of their own coach and the convenience of not having to drive to a weight loss center to get their diet products.

Drawbacks... Herbalife products are sold via multi-level marketing (MLM), not in retail stores. These distributors have in many cases invested large sums of money to purchase inventory and they are aggressive in recruiting new distributors and in selling the products. They are NOT professionally trained weight loss counselors and may be lacking in knowledge in critical areas such as nutrition, exercise physiology, and psychological support.

The company makes it impossible to find the prices of its products on its website. They give you descriptions and SKU numbers. At www.herbalife.com, in order to purchase products, you must leave your gender, name and full mailing address, and phone number. Then, you are told that a local distributor will CALL you. The best way to obtain prices is to do a Google search under the word Herbalife, then click on one of the ads or links for an individual distributor’s website.

In addition, this program does not seem to accommodate people with special foods needs or conditions, and the coaches probably will not be able to give you high-level counseling in the important areas of psychological support. Exercise does not seem to be addressed by the program at all.

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