Cambridge Review and History
Information on the Cambridge discontinued direct selling program.
Cambridge Overview
Cambridge no longer appears to be active as a direct sales company.
Original Npros business profile for Cambridge, preserved below for archival purposes:
The American Cambridge Diet business originated from nutritional research conducted by Dr. Alan Howard at Cambridge University in England beginning in the 1960s and 1970s. Howard developed a nutritionally fortified, very-low-calorie meal-replacement formula intended for weight reduction. His patents were licensed in the United States to Cambridge Plan International, and Vaughn Feather, together with members of the Feather family, commercially introduced the Cambridge Diet in the United States in 1980. The product was initially sold by mail order and then through a rapidly expanding multilevel network of independent Cambridge distributors and counselors.
The original Cambridge program called for three servings of powdered meal replacement per day, providing only about 330 calories in total. At the height of the diet's popularity, Cambridge Plan International reportedly generated approximately $47 million in sales during May 1982 alone and nearly $400 million for all of 1982. The rapid expansion was followed by equally rapid financial difficulties, and Cambridge Plan International filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in September 1983. By 1984, annual sales had fallen to approximately $23 million.
Cambridge subsequently expanded beyond the original powdered diet formula. Products included the Original 330 Formula, flavored meal-replacement shakes, soups, nutrition bars and the later Food for Life Weight Management System. Dr. Robert O. Nesheim was brought in during the 1980s to develop the Food for Life formulations, which increased protein and carbohydrate content and provided approximately 140 calories per serving. Cambridge products were offered in flavors including vanilla, chocolate and strawberry, along with soup and cereal formulations. The company also developed weight-maintenance programs and products sold through physicians under the MediBase name.
The U.S. business continued after the original Cambridge Plan International financial restructuring. In 1991, Cambridge Direct Sales became a wholly owned subsidiary of Dean Distributors, Inc., a California specialty-food manufacturer founded in 1952. Dean operated the Cambridge business through its Advanced Health Care Systems division from Monterey, California. Independent distributors could earn retail profits and build distributor organizations, with additional override bonuses based on organizational sales. The FTC itself described Cambridge Direct Sales as using a "multilevel distribution system," firmly establishing its status as an MLM rather than merely a counselor or affiliate program.
The Cambridge Diet also generated significant health and regulatory controversy. FDA records from the period specifically addressed the Cambridge program's promotion of approximately 330 calories per day as part of broader regulation of very-low-calorie diets. By December 1982, the FDA had reportedly received 138 illness complaints and six reports of deaths among Cambridge Diet users, although regulators had not established that the diet directly caused those deaths. Medical researchers warned that very-low-calorie diets could result in excessive loss of lean body mass and should be undertaken with medical supervision. The product and company subsequently modified the program and introduced higher-calorie formulations.
A separate federal enforcement action followed years later. In 1997, the Federal Trade Commission charged Dean Distributors, doing business as Advanced Health Care Systems, Cambridge Direct Sales and MediBase, with making false or inadequately substantiated claims concerning weight loss, long-term weight maintenance and health risks. The matter was resolved through a consent order rather than a monetary penalty. The FTC required the company to possess competent scientific substantiation for weight-loss claims, required certain weight-maintenance advertising to disclose that weight loss may be temporary, and required safety claims to disclose the need for physician monitoring to minimize risks associated with rapid weight loss.
Cambridge Diet USA continued operating for years after the FTC action, but the U.S. network marketing operation was eventually discontinued. Cambridgedietusa.com no longer functions as an active Cambridge business website, and Dean Distributors remains active today but no longer includes Cambridge among its brands or product lines.
Cambridge Owners, Executives and Executive Consultants
Vaughn Feather, President, Cambridge Plan International
Jack Feather, Founding Family Member
Eileen Feather, Founding Family Member
Vincent Feather, Founding Family Member
Dr. Robert O. Nesheim, Vice President and Nutrition/Product Development Executive
Ralph E. Schulz, President, Dean Distributors
Cambridge News
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