Journalists Examine Health-Tech Firm Nutrameg's Claims of Rapid Growth
The analysis desk of Latvian news portal Delfi has investigated Nutrameg, a nutrition-plan company that says it grew 26-fold in five years. The piece also looks at its earlier name, Science22.com, and its patent claims.
Anna Apīne, a journalist at the Latvian news portal Delfi, has published an investigation into Nutrameg, a health technology company that offers personalized nutrition plans. The company says it has grown 26 times over the past five years, reached a turnover of 100 million and ranks among the ten largest and best firms in its field worldwide. The article, whose subheading refers to fake certificates and disappearing reviews, tries to test how well those claims hold up.
How the inquiry began
In September, a representative of a public relations agency contacted Delfi and offered an interview with a senior Nutrameg employee. While searching for background, the editors found that the former name of a related company, SIA Nutrapp.com, was Science22.com. Its "Stockholm diet" was reviewed five years ago by the Latvian Radio programme "Atvērtie faili" (Open Files). That prompted a closer look at the name change and the way the business had been reshaped.
The company's explanation
Co-founder Egija Seile attributes the growth to leaving the Latvian market, saying most customers are now in English-speaking countries. She says that among competitors such as WeightWatchers and BetterMe, Nutrameg is relatively small, but that in Latvia it is the largest and only company in the industry. According to her, its plans are produced by nutritionists, physiotherapists and other specialists, while rivals rely on artificial intelligence. She says the company has registered a patent in Europe, which can be found in the register of the European patent organisation.
Another co-founder, Kristof Blau, describes the patented method as a simulation of a nutritionist's service. He claims the idea originated in the company's office and that the whole industry now works this way.
The article also raises questions about the company's addresses in Riga and Dublin, an EU-registered medical institution that may not exist, and hundreds of one-star reviews that cannot be viewed.
