New York Times Bestselling Author and AOL(r) Weight Loss Coach Jorge Cruise Pumps Up Diet & Fitness Offerings AOL(r) Diet & Fitness Week Begins May 17

DULLES, VA & NEW YORK, May 17, 2004 - Just in time for summer swimsuits, America Online launched its new Diet & Fitness channel, designed to help support AOL members' complete weight loss needs throughout the year. Responding to the growing trend in online dieting, AOL Diet & Fitness enables members to manage their diet efforts more effectively through a one-stop weight loss center, full of the information and support needed to get fit, shed pounds and keep them off. Enhanced through content partnerships with Health magazine, Cooking Light, eDiets.com and bestselling author and AOL Weight Loss Coach Jorge Cruise, AOL will offer members the ultimate collection of nutritional and fitness resources. With summer only five weeks away, AOL will highlight shapeup strategies during its Diet & Fitness Week campaign that begins today on the world's leading interactive service.

"For the approximately 10 million AOL members who are doing something to control their weight, our goal is to help them change their shape and potentially their lives," said Tina Sharkey, Senior Vice President for Life Management & Community, America Online, Inc. "The new Diet & Fitness channel is a complete experience where dieters can find the information and guidance they need, when they want it, and receive ongoing support from experts and peers alike."

Online dieting has become an increasingly popular way to lose weight, find information and recipes and get support. Last summer, the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that 44% of Americans have gone online to find information about dieting, weight loss and fitness.

Additionally, according to a 2001 study conducted by researchers at Brown University and published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, people who enrolled in a structured online dieting program lost three times more weight in six months than those who simply searched for dieting information online.

AOL's new Diet & Fitness channel builds upon these current Internet habits and interests, bringing members the ultimate weight loss resource for managing their everyday diet and fitness activities. "With the heightened urgency to address obesity and the increasing desire by consumers to live healthier, we are pleased to partner with AOL to offer its members a range of personalized online diet and nutrition solutions that fit into their daily lives," said Harriet Gallu, Vice President, Brand Marketing at eDiets.com. "Incorporating eDiets.com's health assessment tools and diet information adds significant value to the AOL Diet & Fitness experience for its users. They will benefit from personalized nutrition plans, including the Atkins Nutritional Approach(tm), "The Zone" Diet and Shape Up!(tm), inspired by Dr. Phil McGraw's Ultimate Weight Solution, along with eDiets.com's other award-winning content and support services."

During Diet & Fitness Week (May 17- May 23), AOL will introduce new diet and fitness themes each day as part of AOL's Life Management strategy to make daily living easier through a series of products and platforms such as AOL(r) Bill Pay, AOL(r) Kitchen Assistant and now AOL Diet & Fitness. AOL members can find daily fitness highlights, including exercises from AOL Weight Loss Coach Jorge Cruise for toning trouble spots, diet plans and nutritional information, exercise routines, diet basics, the latest weight-loss news and findings and motivational advice from other AOL(r) members.

The new AOL Diet & Fitness area includes:

--Diets A-Z: This exclusive diet franchise is dedicated to providing members need-to-know information on 20 popular weight loss programs, including the Atkins Diet, the South Beach Diet(r), Weight Watchers diet and "The Zone." AOL members can access unique overviews, diet checklists and expert reviews created by Health magazine specifically for AOL. Plus, they can rate each diet based on their own experiences or see if other members had success with those programs.

--Diet Basics: Health magazine and Cooking Light supply members with a healthy eating 101 overview, while eDiets.com arms members with access to the official, personalized online versions of the best-known brand names in the diet field, along with a sampling of menus. In addition to providing tools to measure body composition, eDiets.com's Diet Needs Analysis (DNA) tool helps AOL members identify a nutrition plan that best suits their unique dietary, medical and lifestyle needs.

--Weight Loss Coach: Jorge Cruise, fitness guru and New York Times bestselling author of the 8 Minutes in the Morning(r) book series, serves as AOL's Weight Loss Coach, dedicated to offering members advice, encouragement and exercise moves for achieving the bodies they want. Says Jorge: "While the summer bathing suit and shorts season is one of the most popular times to trim and tone, a weight loss routine should not be limited to a once-a-year diet crunch. I look forward to helping busy AOL members tone their trouble spots and achieve long-term weight loss." AOL(r) for Broadband members can watch videos featuring moves for trimming trouble spots, while AOL dial-up users can view photo gallery/screen captures from the videos. Follow the Weight Loss Coach's AOL(r) Journal to read his entries about how to lose weight while traveling, diet and fitness FAQs and other timely weight loss advice.

--AOL(r) Takes It Off: Members help members take off pounds and inches by submitting tips and photos according to each month's diet theme or topic. For help shaping-up for swimsuit season, see how other dieters and fitness buffs have scored results.

--Fitness & Exercise: Cooking Light helps members develop a fitness regime based on sample workout plans featuring toning and trimming exercises/animations, yoga moves, Pilates basics and more. Also, members can find local fitness resources and gyms.

--Diet Talk: Members can meet other members and get the peer-to-peer support they need to reach their weight-loss goals. Also, dieters can trade advice, tips and inspirational stories about their successful fitness programs.

--News & Trends: AOL keeps members up to date with weekly fitness facts, fads and findings.