by Chris Shugart
Go behind the scenes of supplement-making. After this, you'll never skim a label again.
Here's how most supplement companies operate:
First, they hear about an ingredient with some body composition or health benefit. They think, "People seem to want this stuff. Let's sell it and get a piece of that action!"
Second, they choose their target market – bodybuilders, athletes, health nuts, old people, overweight housewives, etc. With their target demographic in mind, they name the product and design the label to appeal to their target customer's "avatar."
Next, they unleash the marketing department. They decide their ad budget, produce commercials, and cut deals with podcasters and influencers to push the future product. This isn't cheap, and that cost is added to the product's price.
Next, they're ready to bottle the ingredient. Keeping profit margins in mind, they choose the cheapest form of the ingredient. (Gotta pay those podcasters!) It doesn't matter if there are six different forms of this ingredient with clearly different effects; they just choose the least expensive.
Finally, they put the smallest amount of the ingredient possible into each capsule, tablet, or scoop – again to increase margins.
In short, the ingredient is the last thing on their minds.
Sadly, supplement companies like this are usually successful. They're selling an underdosed product with a cut-rate ingredient that isn't very bioavailable and doesn't work well, but the margins are huge given the sales volume, even after they pay for TV and podcast ads. Sure, they don't get many repeat buyers, but they get tons of one-time purchasers.
How we do it instead
Compare that to how we operate. After working with Biotest founder and CEO Tim Patterson for 26 years, here's what I can say:
- It always starts with the ingredient. Does it work? Let's dig deeply into the science and find out.
- Do we want to take it ourselves? If not, then why make it? We only make what we want to take.
- Is another company already making a quality version? If yes, then why bother? We'll just take theirs if we like it and tell our customers to buy it, too. We're happy to do it.
- What form or variety of the ingredient works best? In the case of herbs, what exact component is doing the heavy lifting? How do we get more of that?
- How much of the ingredient is needed to get the effect we're after? What does the research show? If the research says 350 mg works well, can we use 400 mg safely? Can we "over-build" the product to get maximum benefits?
- Can the human body easily absorb the ingredient and put it to work? How can we increase bioavailability? Is there a pharmaceutical delivery system we can borrow from the drug companies and add to the supplement?
It always starts and ends with the ingredient. In fact, if something better comes along, like a new delivery system or form of the ingredient, we'll upgrade the product immediately and at our expense.
In short, we make supplements for those who know, and for those who demand the very best, not the cheapest product.
An example: Micellar Curcumin
Curcumin – the golden extract from turmeric – has been studied for everything from joint health to cellular defense. It sounds like a no-brainer to add it to your regimen.
But here's the problem: the curcumin in nearly every bottle on the shelf doesn't get into your bloodstream.
That's not opinion. It's data.
When subjects took a standard 95% curcumin extract, blood tests showed nothing – free curcumin was undetectable (Gota SV 2010).
Now compare that to Biotest Micellar Curcumin (Buy at Amazon) (solid-lipid curcumin particles). In the same trial, subjects took an equivalent amount of the solid-lipid curcumin particles in Micellar Curcumin. This time, free curcumin reached 95.26 ng·h/mL. That's a 95-fold increase in measurable bioavailability.
Same dose. Same timing. One formulation doesn't show up. The other clearly does.
What makes Micellar Curcumin stand apart is its scientific pedigree:
- Invented by neuroscientists at UCLA.
- Supported by peer-reviewed clinical research in humans.
- Funded through the University of California.
- Protected by U.S. Patent 9192644.
That's not marketing hype. That's translational science – bench to bedside.
So the question isn't whether curcumin works. The question is: Does your curcumin ever get where it needs to go? If it's not Micellar Curcumin, the answer is no.
Biotest could make a higher profit by stuffing some inexpensive turmeric spice into capsules and paying podcasters and influencers to hype it. But then we wouldn't want to take it ourselves. And our target audience – the ingredient-geek "avatars" we're after – would see right through it.
Because they know. They know the difference between a $10 bottle of turmeric root and a $45 bottle of Micellar Curcumin. One doesn't work; one does. Period.
For more info, check out: Unbiased AI assessment of bioavailable curcumin.