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Significant Accounting Policies - Additional Information (Detail)
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3 Months Ended | 3 Months Ended | 1 Months Ended | 3 Months Ended | |||||||||||
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Mar. 31, 2013
USD ($)
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Mar. 31, 2013
VEF
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Dec. 31, 2012
USD ($)
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Mar. 31, 2012
USD ($)
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Dec. 31, 2011
USD ($)
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Mar. 31, 2013
Herbalife Venezuela [Member]
USD ($)
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Mar. 31, 2012
Herbalife Venezuela [Member]
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Dec. 31, 2012
Herbalife Venezuela [Member]
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Feb. 28, 2013
SITME Rate [Member]
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Feb. 28, 2013
New CADIVI Rate [Member]
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Jan. 31, 2013
Previous CADIVI Rate [Member]
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Feb. 28, 2013
CADIVI Rate [Member]
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Mar. 31, 2013
Alternative Bolivar Exchange Mechanisms [Member]
USD ($)
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Mar. 31, 2013
Remeasurement of Assets and Liabilities Using New CADIVI Rate [Member]
USD ($)
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Mar. 31, 2013
Devaluation of Bolivar Denominated Cash [Member]
USD ($)
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| Subsidiary or Equity Method Investee [Line Items] | |||||||||||||||
| Foreign currency exchange rate, Bolivars per USD | 5.3 | 6.3 | 4.3 | ||||||||||||
| Percent by which currency exchange rate was less favorable than SITME | 16.00% | ||||||||||||||
| Foreign currency transaction losses | $ (700,000) | $ (15,100,000) | $ (16,900,000) | ||||||||||||
| CADIVI rate for remeasurement | 6.3 | 6.3 | |||||||||||||
| Percent by which alternative legal exchange mechanism was less favorable than new CADIVI | 75.00% | ||||||||||||||
| Currency exchanged through alternative legal exchange mechanisms | 200,000 | 5,600,000 | |||||||||||||
| Net monetary Bolivar denominated assets and liabilities | 89,500,000 | ||||||||||||||
| Cash and cash equivalents | $ 722,474,000 | $ 333,534,000 | $ 305,861,000 | $ 258,775,000 | $ 102,300,000 | ||||||||||
| Subsidiary net sales as percentage of consolidated sales | 4.00% | 3.00% | |||||||||||||
| Subsidiary assets as percentage of consolidated assets | 6.00% | 7.00% | |||||||||||||