Kosher Weight Loss Programs

Demand Grows for Kosher Weight Loss Programs and Products
By Sarah Cohen... New York, NY…

Demand in the Jewish community for kosher weight loss programs and products follows industry trends, a KosherToday survey found. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention approximately 65% of US citizens are overweight. Obesity has become a growing concern amongst many Jews who keep kosher. While there were no specific sales numbers for kosher weight loss programs and products, the Atlanta Business Chronicles put sales of US Weight Loss programs and products at $34.7 billion annually. The Calorie Control Council’s National Consumer Survey found that 33% of adults, 71 million people, in America are on a diet. While non kosher consumers have various programs such as Jenny Craig and The Zone, as well as a multitude of diet products, there is a new breed of kosher programs that target adherents of the Jewish dietary laws.

Kosher Diet Delivery, a diet delivery program serving the larger New York Area, offers consumers a complete meal plan delivered to their front door. “This program was started in direct response to demand by kosher consumers for a comprehensive diet program,” said Ephraim Zimmerman, General Manager of Kosher Diet Delivery. Zimmerman estimates that approximately 10% of the Kosher Diet Delivery members are non-kosher consumers who “equate kosher with healthier and higher quality foods.” Dr. B’s, a weight loss product retailer, has been offering kosher consumers a wide array of diet products, a medically supervised weight loss program, and a weekly delivery diet program. Dr. B’s products, such as desserts, entrees and side dishes, are low fat, sugar free and generally, low carb. “The need for weight loss products and programs is very high in the Jewish community because of the focus on food during Jewish Holidays,” said Heather Bennett Book, Vice President of Dr. B’s. Says Book: “Our Weight Loss products and programs allow consumers to maintain healthier eating habits.” Melanie Cohen, Weight Watchers Meeting Leader in the New York Area, comments that working in Jewish areas, she has observed an increase in membership enrollment among Jewish consumers in October, following the Jewish New Year of Rosh Hashanah and in January, following the secular New Year. “Although Weight Watchers offers kosher dairy products, kosher consumers have increasingly been asking for pareve Weight Watchers products,” commented Cohen. One kosher distributor who sells many diet items to the growing program “including home businesses” said his business for diet products increased by “about 18%. in the past 12 months.”

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