Metrecal
Encyclopedia
Metrecal was a brand of diet foods introduced in the early 1960s. Though its products were criticized for their taste, which newer varieties of flavor tried to improve upon later, 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 Slim Fast
.
's company providing consulting work on the product's development. The name for the product was generated by an automated IBM
computer system as a blend of the words "meter" and "calories", referring to the measured caloric intake of the Metrecal diet.
. 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.
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. Stating that "most users agree that the stuff is vile-tasting", Time reported that many dieters would add liquor to make it more palatable.
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
. 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."
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." Warnings regarding a wide range of liquid protein weight loss products were issued by the Food and Drug Administration
starting later in 1977. Metrecal and other similar products were pulled off shelves after the United States government connected 59 deaths to liquid protein products.
C. Joseph Genster
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.Genster was born September 5, 1917, in Sheffield, Illinois, where he...
of Mead Johnson & Company, it was eventually replaced in the market by competitors such as Slim Fast
Slim Fast
Slim•Fast is a brand of shakes, bars, snacks, packaged meals, and other dietary supplement foods sold in the U.S., UK, Ireland, Canada, France, Germany, Iceland and Latin America by Unilever. Slim Fast promotes diets and weight loss plans featuring its food products. Its U.S...
.
Founding
Mead Johnson had a long history of creating nutritional supplements for infants 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. Food innovator Sylvia SchurSylvia Schur
Sylvia Zipser Schur was an American food columnist and innovator. She wrote cookbooks and has been credited with developing Clamato and cranapple juice. She also wrote recipes for Ann Page and Betty Crocker and helped develop menus for restaurants, including the Four Seasons in Manhattan...
's company providing consulting work on the product's development. The name for the product was generated by an automated IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
computer system as a blend of the words "meter" and "calories", referring to the measured caloric intake of the Metrecal diet.
Popular phase
Originally the product came as a powder (containing powdered skim milk, soybean flour and corn oil and fortified with vitamins and minerals) which was mixed with water. In contrast to other weight loss products available at the time, Metrecal included more proteinProtein
Proteins are biochemical compounds consisting of one or more polypeptides typically folded into a globular or fibrous form, facilitating a biological function. A polypeptide is a single linear polymer chain of amino acids bonded together by peptide bonds between the carboxyl and amino groups of...
. 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.
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. Stating that "most users agree that the stuff is vile-tasting", Time reported that many dieters would add liquor to make it more palatable.
Forbes
Forbes
Forbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...
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
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine reported that it was being purchased by "growing hordes of Schmoo
Shmoo
A shmoo is a fictional cartoon creature. Created by Al Capp , it first appeared in his classic comic strip Li'l Abner on August 31, 1948, and quickly became a postwar national craze in the USA....
-shaped addicts who were insisting on guzzling their way to the vanishing point" who were joined by the royalty of Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
and Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
. In her 1963 book The Feminine Mystique
The Feminine Mystique
The Feminine Mystique, published February 19, 1963, by W.W. Norton and Co., is a nonfiction book written by Betty Friedan. It is widely credited with sparking the beginning of second-wave feminism in the United States....
, Betty Friedan
Betty Friedan
Betty Friedan was an American writer, activist, and feminist.A leading figure in the Women's Movement in the United States, her 1963 book The Feminine Mystique is often credited with sparking the "second wave" of American feminism in the twentieth century...
lamented how women "ate a chalk called Metrecal, instead of food, to shrink to the size of thin young models."
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 diners simply grew tired" of the monotony of drinking the shakes day after day. By March 1977, The New York TimesThe New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
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." Warnings regarding a wide range of liquid protein weight loss products were issued by the Food and Drug Administration
Food and Drug Administration
The Food and Drug Administration is an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, one of the United States federal executive departments...
starting later in 1977. Metrecal and other similar products were pulled off shelves after the United States government connected 59 deaths to liquid protein products.