science

Medifast

Medifast is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Medifast rather than just read about it. In short: Medifast, Inc. (NYSE: MED) is an American nutrition and weight loss company based in Baltimore, Maryland.

Key takeaways

Medifast belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Medifast to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Medifast from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Medifast, Inc. (NYSE: MED) is an American nutrition and weight loss company based in Baltimore, Maryland. Medifast produces, distributes, and sells weight loss and health-related products through websites, multi-level marketing, telemarketing, and franchised weight loss clinics.

Subsidiaries The company owns five subsidiaries:

Jason Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Take Shape for Life, Inc. (TSFL) (renamed Optavia from July 2017) Jason Enterprises, Inc. Jason Properties, LLC Seven Crondall, LLC

History William Vitale, a medical doctor, founded Medifast in 1980. He sold his products directly to other doctors, who in turn prescribed them to their patients alongside behavioural counselling techniques. The company is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange (symbol: MED). On July 17, 1995, HealthRite (predecessor of Medifast) changed its name from Vitamin Specialties Corp. In 2000 the company pivoted to a direct-to-consumer marketing program with the help of Jason Pharmaceuticals and in 2001, the company changed its name to Medifast, Inc. In 2002, Retired Marine Colonel Bradley T. MacDonald, Chairman of the Board at the time, along with clinical specialist Dr. Wayne Scott Andersen, created Take Shape For Life as a personal Coach to the Client system and the company's “Habits of Health System.” In October 2010, Medifast was ranked number 1 on Forbes magazine's list of "America's 100 Best Small Companies". The company was ranked 18th on the 2014 list. Medifast was named one of Forbes's 100 Most Trustworthy Companies in America in 2016 and 2017. In July 2017, Medifast changed the name of its subsidiary Take Shape For Life to Optavia and introduced a new line of products, Optavia Essentials, directly sold from Coaches to clients. In October 2017, Medifast relocated its headquarters to Baltimore from Owings Mills, Maryland. The company is public with a market capitalization of $2.106 billion, as of June 2022. In December 2023, Medifast announced a partnership with LifeMD, a provider of virtual healthcare services. Under the agreement, Medifast will use LifeMD's virtual platform to offer Medifast clients a clinically supported weight management program, including the option for prescription GLP-1 medications where clinically appropriate. In return, LifeMD will provide its patients with an independent Medifast Coach and additional lifestyle support services for weight management.

False advertising settlement In September 2012, Medifast's subsidiary, Jason Pharmaceuticals, paid a $3.7 million USD civil penalty for false advertising. The Federal Trade Commission and United States Department of Justice said that advertisements for the "Medifast 5 & 1 Plan" low-calorie diet told consumers they could "lose up to 2-5 pounds per week", and that these weight-loss claims lacked a reasonable scientific basis, and were unsubstantiated. Under the settlement, any future claims made by the company must be backed by at least one human clinical study.

References

External links Official website

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Medifast

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Medifast claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Medifast before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Medifast ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Medifast

In research: Medifast appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Medifast in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Medifast is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics American companies established in 1980, Companies based in Baltimore, Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Medifast outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Medifast in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Medifast means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Medifast out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Medifast in simple terms?

Medifast, Inc. (NYSE: MED) is an American nutrition and weight loss company based in Baltimore, Maryland.

Why does Medifast matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Medifast?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Medifast.