Metrecal

Last updated

Metrecal was a brand of low-calorie, powdered diet foods (to be mixed with water as a beverage) "containing the essential nutrients of protein, carbohydrate, fat, vitamins and minerals" introduced in the early 1960s by the Mead Johnson company, with the first variety going on the market on October 6, 1959, the same day as another Mead Johnson product, Enfamil. [1] Though the initial Metrecal products were criticized for their taste, which newer varieties of flavor tried to improve upon, it attained a niche in the popular culture of the time. Created and marketed initially by C. Joseph Genster of Mead Johnson & Company, it was eventually replaced in the market by competitors such as SlimFast and lost popularity.

Contents

History

Founding

Mead Johnson had a long history of creating nutritional supplements for infants (Enfamil) and invalids, and Metrecal was seen as a logical progression into weight loss for the general public. Genster was the group director for nutritional specialties at Mead Johnson, which launched the product in September 1959, though it was unclear who conceived the original concept. [2] Food innovator Sylvia Schur's company provided consulting work on the product's development. [3] The name for the product was generated by an IBM syllable-scrambling program, that when "meter" and "calories" were entered, referring to the measured caloric intake of the diet, the name "Metrecal" was created.

Originally the product came as a powder (containing powdered skim milk, soybean flour, sugar and corn oil and fortified with vitamins and minerals) which was to be mixed with water. Metrecal included more protein than other weight-loss products available at the time. The Metrecal diet plan had people consume four self-prepared shakes (or portion-controlled cans) of Metrecal a day, with each can providing 225 calories for a total of 900 per day. [4]

Many of those trying to subsist on 900 calories per day experienced hunger pangs, which would typically dissipate after a few days. In addition to the original vanilla flavor, later offerings included chocolate and butterscotch along with several other flavors, and the product line was extended to include Metrecal cookies, clam chowder and tuna with noodles. [2] Stating that "most users agree that the stuff is vile-tasting", Time reported that many dieters would add liquor to make it more palatable. [5]

Forbes noted how "Metrecal moved out of the medicine cabinet toward the kitchen, the patio, the pool", while an article in a November 1960 article in Time magazine reported that it was being purchased by "growing hordes of Schmoo-shaped addicts who were insisting on guzzling their way to the vanishing point" who were joined by the royalty of Greece and Saudi Arabia. [5] In her 1963 book The Feminine Mystique , Betty Friedan lamented how women "ate a chalk called Metrecal, instead of food, to shrink to the size of thin young models". [6]

Decline

The fad started fading in the mid-1960s, when Peter Wyden, author of the 1965 book The Overweight Society, noted that "even reasonably steadfast dieters simply grew tired" of the monotony of drinking the shakes day after day, as well as copycat products, such as Sego, taking market share. [2] By March 1977, The New York Times said that Metrecal had "gone the way of all flesh" and a spokesperson for Bristol-Myers, which then owned Mead Johnson, acknowledged that "Times change. The market changes." [7] Warnings regarding a wide range of liquid protein weight loss products were issued by the Food and Drug Administration starting later in 1977. [8] In 1978, Metrecal and other similar products were pulled off shelves after the FDA connected 59 deaths, between late 1977 to early 1978, to liquid protein products. [9]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sucralose</span> Non-nutritive sweetener

Sucralose is an artificial sweetener and sugar substitute. As the majority of ingested sucralose is not metabolized by the body, it adds no calories. In the European Union, it is also known under the E number E955. It is produced by chlorination of sucrose, selectively replacing three of the hydroxy groups—in the C1 and C6 positions of the fructose portion and the C4 position of the glucose portion—to give a 1,6-dichloro-1,6-dideoxyfructose–4-chloro-4-deoxygalactose disaccharide. Sucralose is about 600 times sweeter than sucrose, three times as sweet as both aspartame and acesulfame potassium, and twice as sweet as sodium saccharin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Infant formula</span> Manufactured food designed for feeding infants

Infant formula, also called baby formula, simply formula, baby milk or infant milk, is an ultra-processed food designed and marketed for feeding to babies and infants under 12 months of age, usually prepared for bottle-feeding or cup-feeding from powder or liquid. The U.S. Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA) defines infant formula as "a food which purports to be or is represented for special dietary use solely as a food for infants by reason of its simulation of human milk or its suitability as a complete or partial substitute for human milk".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dietary supplement</span> Product providing additional nutrients

A dietary supplement is a manufactured product intended to supplement a person's diet by taking a pill, capsule, tablet, powder, or liquid. A supplement can provide nutrients either extracted from food sources, or that are synthetic. The classes of nutrient compounds in supplements include vitamins, minerals, fiber, fatty acids, and amino acids. Dietary supplements can also contain substances that have not been confirmed as being essential to life, and so are not nutrients per se, but are marketed as having a beneficial biological effect, such as plant pigments or polyphenols. Animals can also be a source of supplement ingredients, such as collagen from chickens or fish for example. These are also sold individually and in combination, and may be combined with nutrient ingredients. The European Commission has also established harmonized rules to help insure that food supplements are safe and appropriately labeled.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Olestra</span> Fat substitute

Olestra is a fat substitute that adds no calories to products. It has been used in the preparation of otherwise high-fat foods, thereby lowering or eliminating their fat content. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) originally approved olestra for use in the US as a replacement for fats and oils in prepackaged ready-to-eat snacks in 1996, concluding that such use "meets the safety standard for food additives, reasonable certainty of no harm". In the late 2000s, olestra lost its popularity due to supposed side effects and has been largely phased out, but products containing the ingredient can still be purchased at grocery stores in some countries. As of 2023, no products are sold in the United States using Olestra.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tang (drink mix)</span> American drink mix brand

Tang is an American drink mix brand that was formulated by General Foods Corporation food scientist William A. Mitchell and General Foods Corporation chemist William Bruce James in 1957, and first marketed in powdered form in 1959. The Tang brand is currently owned in most countries by Mondelēz International, a North American company spun off from Kraft Foods in 2012. Kraft Heinz owns the Tang brand in North America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Special K</span> WK Kellogg Co brand of cereal

Special K is an American brand of breakfast cereal and meal bars originally manufactured by Kellogg's. The cereal was introduced to the United States in 1955. It is made primarily from grains such as lightly toasted rice, wheat and barley. Special K used to be marketed primarily as a low-fat cereal that can be eaten to help one lose weight. Following the 2023 spinoff of Kellogg's North American cereal division, the cereal is manufactured by WK Kellogg Co for the United States, Canada, and Caribbean markets. The former Kellogg's, renamed Kellanova, continues to manufacture the cereal for the rest of the world and the meal bars for all markets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SlimFast</span> American diet supplement company

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, Latin America, and the U.K. SlimFast promotes diets and weight loss plans featuring its food products.

The Cambridge Diet was a very-low-calorie meal replacement fad diet developed in the 1960s. The diet launched with different versions in the US and the UK. The US version filed for bankruptcy and shut down shortly after the deaths of several dieters. The UK diet has also been known as the Cambridge Weight Plan, but is now known as The 1:1 Diet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Non-dairy creamer</span> Substitute for milk or cream in coffee

A non-dairy creamer, commonly also called tea whitener or coffee whitener or else just creamer, is a liquid or granular product intended to substitute for milk or cream as an additive to coffee, tea, hot chocolate or other beverages. They do not contain lactose and therefore are commonly described as being non-dairy products, although many contain casein, a milk-derived protein.

A fat substitute is a food product with the same functions, stability, physical, and chemical characteristics as regular fat, with fewer calories per gram than fat. They are utilized in the production of low fat and low calorie foods.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ensure</span> American brand of nutritional supplements

Ensure is an American brand of nutritional supplements and meal replacements manufactured by Abbott Laboratories.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Very-low-calorie diet</span> Diet with very or extremely low daily food energy consumption

A very-low-calorie diet (VLCD), also known as semistarvation diet and crash diet, is a type of diet with very or extremely low daily food energy consumption. VLCDs are defined as a diet of 800 kilocalories (3,300 kJ) per day or less. Modern medically supervised VLCDs use total meal replacements, with regulated formulations in Europe and Canada which contain the recommended daily requirements for vitamins, minerals, trace elements, fatty acids, protein and electrolyte balance. Carbohydrates may be entirely absent, or substituted for a portion of the protein; this choice has important metabolic effects. Medically supervised VLCDs have specific therapeutic applications for rapid weight loss, such as in morbid obesity or before a bariatric surgery, using formulated, nutritionally complete liquid meals containing 800 kilocalories or less per day for a maximum of 12 weeks.

Twinlab Consolidated Corporation is an American company which manufactures and markets vitamins, minerals, and bodybuilding supplements. Twinlab is based in Boca Raton, Florida.

Enfamil is an American brand of infant formula that is made by Mead Johnson, a subsidiary of Reckitt. From 1989 through 2011, Mead Johnson used Beatrix Potter's Peter Rabbit on its U.S. packaging. However, in 2012, the company transitioned to its signature duck across it U.S. Enfamil product line. Enfamil is a product name associated with formulas for babies.

Nutritional rating systems are used to communicate the nutritional value of food in a more-simplified manner, with a ranking, than nutrition facts labels. A system may be targeted at a specific audience. Rating systems have been developed by governments, non-profit organizations, private institutions, and companies. Common methods include point systems to rank foods based on general nutritional value or ratings for specific food attributes, such as cholesterol content. Graphics and symbols may be used to communicate the nutritional values to the target audience.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meal replacement</span> Food substitute with controlled quantities of calories and nutrients

A meal replacement is a drink, bar, soup, etc. intended as a substitute for a solid food, usually with controlled quantities of calories and nutrients. Some drinks come in powdered form or pre-mixed health shakes that can be cheaper than solid foods with identical health qualities. Medically prescribed meal replacement drinks include the body's necessary vitamins and minerals. Bodybuilders sometimes use meal replacements, not formulated for weight loss, to save food preparation time when eating 5-6 meals a day.

Charles Joseph Genster was an American business executive at the nutrition company Mead Johnson who oversaw the development and marketing of Metrecal, a liquid diet drink that became a weight loss craze in the early 1960s.

A drink mix is a processed-food product, designed to mix usually with water to produce a beverage resembling juice, soda, or other sweet products in flavor. Another type of drink mix is represented by products that are mixed into milk. It is traditionally made in powdered form, but liquid forms are also seen now.

Sego was a US meal replacement diet drink formally marketed by Pet, Inc., as Sego Liquid Diet Food. Introduced in 1961 and selling for approximately US25¢ each, Sego sales registered US$22 million to the company's Milk Products Division by 1965.

Instant breakfast typically refers to breakfast food products that are manufactured in a powdered form, which are generally prepared with the addition of milk and then consumed as a drink. Some instant breakfasts are produced and marketed in liquid form. The target market for instant breakfast products includes consumers who tend to be busy, such as students and working adults.

References

  1. ↑ "Mead Introduces 2 New Items", The Evansville (IN) Press , October 1, 1959, p. 8-A. Accessed October 30, 2023, cia Newspapers.com. "Two new Mead Johnson and Company products will go on the market Monday — one of them a 'painless' weight control product, the other a low protein duplication of mother's milk."
  2. 1 2 3 Martin, Douglas. "C. Joseph Genster, Marketer of Metrecal, Dies at 92", The New York Times , August 26, 2010. Accessed August 27, 2010.
  3. ↑ Staff. "Corrections", The New York Times , October 28, 2009. Accessed October 30, 2023.
  4. ↑ Owen, June. "Food News: Latest Rage For Dieters", The New York Times , September 20, 1960. Accessed October 30, 2023.
  5. 1 2 Staff. "Americana: The Theory of Weightlessness", Time (magazine) , November 21, 1960. Accessed August 31, 2010.
  6. ↑ Keetley, Dawn. "Public Women, Public Words: A Documentary History of American Feminism, Volume 3", p. 8. Rowman & Littlefield, 2005, ISBN   0-7425-2236-9. Accessed August 31, 2010.
  7. ↑ Wedemeyer, Dee. "Metrecal: A Shadow of What It Was", The New York Times , March 9, 1977. Accessed August 31, 2010.
  8. ↑ Lyons, Richard D. "F.D.A. Warns Dieters About Liquid Protein; Commissioner, Citing 16 Deaths, Calls Potential Danger High", The New York Times , November 10, 1977. Accessed August 31, 2010.
  9. ↑ Kleinfeld, N. R. "The Ever-Fatter Business Of Thinness", The New York Times , September 7, 1986. Accessed August 31, 2010.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.