Dr. McDougall Health & Medical Center

What Dr. McDougall Health & Medical Center does

Dr. McDougall Health & Medical Center offers medical programmers that treat chronic illnesses by providing patients with care and education. They provide an online medical programmer that has been reversing and healing chronic illnesses. They receive education and medical care. They serve weight loss, healthcare, wellness, and recipes.

Name

Dr. McDougall Health & Medical Center

Legal name

Dr. McDougall Health & Medical Center

Website

https://www.drmcdougall.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1986

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Dr. McDougall Health & Medical Center offers medical programs that heals chronic illnesses through medical care and education for people.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Lifestyle Medicine and Chronic Disease Management

NAICS

Diet and Weight Reducing Centers (812191), Offices of Physicians (6211)

SIC

Services-Offices & Clinics Of Doctors Of Medicine (8011), Food And Kindred Products (2000)

akta.pro primary industry

General Nutrition Coaching (HSADAFAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Food Allergy/Intolerance & Specialized Diets (Gluten-Free, Low-FODMAP, etc.) (HSADAFAI), Weight Management & Metabolic Supplements (CRADAGAG), Nutrition & Dietetics Services (EDALAFAH)

Keywords

• Plant-based nutrition programs
• Chronic disease reversal
• Lifestyle medicine programs
• Starch-based diet therapy
• Wellness education programs

Headquarters

HQ city

Santa Rosa

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Starch Solution Community Membership: Monthly or annual subscription membership providing access to weekly live calls, interactive health roadmap, recipe library, replay library, and private community support. Priced at $29/month or $290/year.
2. 12-Day McDougall Program: Comprehensive online medical intervention program with daily support, live lectures, cooking demonstrations, and ongoing support for a year after completion. Limited to 50 participants per session.
3. Mini-Courses: Individual paid courses including Gut Health, Mary's Mini-McDougall Diet, Maximum Weight Loss Program, The Truth About Food, Aging Gracefully, and McDougall's Medicine mini-course.
4. Starch Solution Certification Course: Certification program for healthcare professionals and non-professionals to teach the Starch Solution, including video lectures, lesson plans, and ongoing quarterly live Zoom support calls.
5. Books, eBooks, Videos, and Podcasts: E-commerce sales of Dr. John and Mary McDougall's national best-selling books, videos, and podcasts through the online shop.
6. Dr. McDougall's Right Foods Products: Convenient food products co-founded with Right Foods, available in nearly 4000 stores, generating licensing/royalty revenue.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels9 records

Core offering

Dr. McDougall Health & Medical Center offers medical programs and educational content that heal chronic illnesses through a whole-food, starch-based dietary intervention. The core offerings include a subscription-based lifestyle medicine program (Starch Solution Community), an intensive 12-day online medical intervention program, professional certification courses, and a suite of educational mini-courses. Revenue is generated through subscription memberships, paid programs, mini-courses, books, eBooks, videos, podcasts, and licensing royalties from Dr. McDougall's Right Foods products sold in nearly 4,000 retail stores.

Product overview

Dr. McDougall Health & Medical Center offers a comprehensive suite of health and wellness products centered on a whole-food, starch-based diet program. The core offerings include the Starch Solution Community (subscription membership with live calls and support), the intensive 12-Day Program (medical intervention with daily support), and the Free McDougall Program (introductory education). These are supplemented by multiple Mini-Courses covering specific topics (Gut Health, Maximum Weight Loss, Truth About Food, Aging Gracefully, Mary's Mini-McDougall Diet), a professional Starch Solution Certification Course, and McDougall's Medicine educational content. Free resources include an extensive recipe collection and Education Hub with articles on health topics. Additional offerings include books, eBooks, podcasts, and videos available through the Shop, plus a mobile Cookbook App for iOS and Android.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• The Starch Solution: A transformative and life-saving program designed by Dr. McDougall for reversing chronic illness through a starch-based diet, available for over 45 years.
• Starch Solution Community
• 12-Day McDougall Program
• Mini-Courses

Products and services

• Starch Solution Community Subscription-based membership community offering weekly live calls, an interactive health roadmap, oil-free recipes from Mary McDougall, and peer support for individuals following the starch-based McDougall diet program. Priced at $29/month or $290/year.
• 12-Day McDougall Program Intensive online medical intervention program led by doctors, nutritionists, and lifestyle experts that provides daily check-ins, live lectures, Q&A sessions, cooking demonstrations, and ongoing support for 12 days with continued weekly support for a year after completion. Limited to 50 participants per session.
• Gut Health Mini-Course Course exploring the connection between diet and digestive issues, including topics like fatty liver, appendicitis, colon cancer, hemorrhoids, and varicose veins, with included book 'Digestive Tune-Up' and an Elimination Diet guide.
• Mary's Mini-McDougall Diet Mini-Course Simplified rapid-adjustment weight loss program based on eating one starch at every meal for 10 days, designed as an entry point to the standard McDougall diet.
• Maximum Weight Loss Program Mini-Course Course teaching fundamentals of starch-based weight loss including which foods to eat and avoid, designed to help users lose weight sustainably without calorie counting or hunger.
• The Truth About Food Mini-Course Course covering four main pillars of nutrition including protein, fats, sugar, vitamins, osteoporosis, and B12/vitamin D sources to help users understand food's effect on health.
• Aging Gracefully Mini-Course Course focused on avoiding Alzheimer's and dementia, reversing common diseases like arthritis and heart disease, and preserving cognitive health through diet and lifestyle.
• Starch Solution Certification Course Professional certification program teaching the McDougall Program principles, including 19 video lectures, quarterly live Zoom calls, lesson plans for hosting classes, and access to newsletters and PDF books. Certification requires 70% minimum exam score.
• McDougall's Medicine: A Challenging Second Opinion (Mini-Course) Five-part lecture series by Dr. McDougall covering obesity, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and essential nutrients, providing scientific references and presentation slides for comprehensive nutrition education.
• Shop (Books, eBooks, Podcasts, Videos) Online store offering Dr. McDougall and Mary McDougall's national best-selling books including The Starch Solution, The McDougall Quick & Easy Cookbook, as well as podcasts and video collections.
• Dr. McDougall's Right Foods Products Convenient food products co-founded by Dr. John McDougall, Mary McDougall, and Jim Ahrens, available in nearly 4,000 stores, generating licensing/royalty revenue to the McDougall program.

Quantifiable outcome

• Average 4 pounds lost in 12 days
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Dr. McDougall's Right FoodscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-founded by Dr. John McDougall, Mary McDougall, and Jim Ahrens, Right Foods offers convenient food products aligned with the McDougall dietary approach. Products are available in nearly 4,000 stores, extending the brand's physical retail presence.
• St. Helena Hospital (Napa Valley)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerFormer partnership (1986-2002) with Seventh Day Adventist hospital where Dr. McDougall ran the McDougall Program as their lifestyle residential program.
• Blue Cross Blue ShieldminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerHistorical partnership (1999-2001) in Minneapolis where McDougall Program was run for insurance company employees, demonstrating 44% reduction in healthcare costs.
• Publix SupermarketsminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerHistorical partnership caring for employees in Lakeland, Florida, demonstrating workplace wellness program implementation.
• American College of Lifestyle MedicineminorOthersProfessional organization that awarded Dr. John McDougall the Lifetime Achievement Award recognizing his contributions to lifestyle medicine.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Ornish Lifestyle Medicine: Founded by Dr. Dean Ornish, this is the most direct peer—medically-supervised lifestyle programs (diet, exercise, stress management) proven to reverse heart disease and other chronic conditions. Highly comparable in clinical positioning, chronic-disease reversal claims, and physician-led delivery model.
• TrueNorth Health Center: Medically-supervised residential and outpatient program using water-only fasting and plant-based diet to reverse chronic disease. Comparable in using physician oversight and whole-food plant-based nutrition as core intervention, though with a fasting-led protocol rather than starch-led.
• Dr. Fuhrman (Nutritarian) Health Oasis: Dr. Joel Fuhrman's nutritarian program delivers disease-reversal claims through plant-rich dietary intervention, with books, membership communities, retreats, and physician consultations. Closely comparable business model, claim structure, and target audience.

Broad incumbents

• Forks Over Knives: Plant-based lifestyle brand and documentary publisher offering recipes, courses, meal planner app, and community around the same evidence-based whole-food plant-based diet McDougall champions. Highly comparable content, audience overlap, and brand adjacency; broader in reach but less medically credentialed.
• WW International (Weight Watchers): Largest scaled subscription weight management platform with digital programs, community, and food/exercise tracking. Comparable in subscription-based wellness delivery, though diet philosophy is mainstream rather than starch-based and not medically credentialed.
• Medifast / Optavia: Structured meal-replacement and coach-led weight loss program with large subscriber base and multi-channel acquisition. Comparable in offering a structured protocol plus community/coaching, though distinct in meal-replacement rather than whole-food plant-based approach.
• Noom: Digital behavior-change weight management platform with psychologist-led coaching, large paid acquisition budget, and subscription model. Comparable in subscription D2C wellness GTM, though uses CBT/calorie tracking rather than starch-based dietary prescription.

Emerging players

• The Plantrician Project: Educates physicians and healthcare professionals on plant-based nutrition for disease reversal, runs the International Plant-Based Nutrition Conference. Comparable in advocating plant-based dietary intervention as primary treatment, with strong overlap in target practitioner audience.
• Engine 2 / Rip Esselstyn: Plant-strong dietary program launched by former firefighter and best-selling author, with retreats, coaching, and community. Comparable audience and content approach, though less clinical positioning than McDougall.

Others

• Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine: Physician-led nonprofit advocating plant-based nutrition and lifestyle medicine for chronic disease prevention and reversal. Comparable advocacy positioning and target healthcare professional audience, though operating as a nonprofit rather than commercial business.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/drjohnmcdougall
• Facebookfacebook.com/412812248776334
• Pinterestpinterest.com/drmcdougallhealthmedicalcenter

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles10 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Dr. McDougall Health & Medical Center