Utah, known as the Beehive State, also has a lesser-known claim to fame as the birthplace of the United States’ dietary supplement industry. It is home to over 300 nutraceutical companies, perhaps 200 more if you count those that service them. And with a workforce of an estimated 50,000 in its economic ecosystem, it is one of the biggest industries in the state, only falling behind tourism and tech. But how did Utah become the supplement center of the U.S.?
“People often say, ‘Why Utah?’ Today it is a roughly $16 billion dietary supplement industry, a big industry, and this goes back into the late 1960s early 70s,” explained Loren Israelsen, founder and president, United Natural Products Alliance, who worked for Nature’s Way from 1980 to 1990.
“You have to go into the hills of Springville, Utah, which is down in Utah County, Provo. People would probably perhaps know that as home of BYU [Brigham Young University]. And up in the hills, Dr. John Christopher had the School of Natural Healing, and young herbalists, aspiring herbalists, would come to his school to be taught under his tutelage.
“Out of those students came a number of people that started little companies here in Utah. Those little companies then, among them Nature’s Way, where I worked, Nature’s Sunshine [and] Nature’s Herbs, we also had Solaray up in Ogden, and out of that grew generation after generation of companies. And it was essentially the Silicon Valley effect.”
With Dr. John Christopher leading the way, Utah’s supplement industry grew from humble beginnings to hundreds of nutraceutical companies now calling the state home.
A well-connected salesforce
Dietary supplement and direct selling companies have a long history in Utah, thanks to multilingual Mormon missionaries returning to the state, resulting in a well-connected salesforce like no other.
“Missionaries were literally selling a product–religion in this case–and they went out and they learned selling skills," said Mark Pedersen, director of customer innovation at INW Capstone Nutrition, who also worked for Nature’s Sunshine from 1981 to 1991.
“These are 19 and 20 year olds, very young people. They came back eager to get a job, and either that or they paid their way through school, and it became a way to work in a call center, so they had selling skills. They also had personal contacts, and the congregations that they were working with would naturally be clients and so they had customers, they had sales skills, they had language skills and it made the perfect combination to create a network marketing business.”
Between the Mormon missionaries-turned-salespeople coupled with a strong belief in natural remedies and easy access to major highways, rail lines and the Utah Inland Port, the state made for a perfect ecosystem for companies like Nature’s Sunshine and Nature’s Way to thrive.
A plan is Hatched
The industry faced significant challenges along the way, particularly with FDA regulations, but found a powerful ally in Senator Orrin Hatch. A landmark victory came in 1994 with the passing of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act, showcasing how fierce competitors could unite for a common cause.
“I was a former staff member for Senator Hatch, and he was a long time friend of the industry,” said Israelsen. “He said if you need help at some point along the way, let me know and that day came.
“I called the senator’s staff, made an appointment, flew back to Washington, sat down, explained our problem. I handed him this one-pager, and he kind of glanced at it and he said ‘I’m good. Let’s go and get yourself a democrat in the house’, and that was it, end of conversation.”
The Hail Mary of the 1990s
“We didn’t know how this was going to go, obviously, and we figured that it’s going to be 90 days and we’re done,” Israelsen said. “There’s no prospect, never going to happen and we’ll all go back to doing what we were doing before. With the prospect of FDA still coming after us. Well, as it turns out, the Hail Mary of the 1990s was the passage of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act in the fall of 1994.”
The infrastructure, customer base and collective effort make for a complex ecosystem, much like a beehive. And the state’s motto is just one word: industry, a symbol of the hard work and communal effort often seen in bees. And the dietary supplement industry, made up of people, herbs and unlikely circumstances, is nothing short of far-fetched.
“Part of the Utah story that I find so interesting is how improbable the whole thing is—that there were so many moments when this all could have gone wrong,” said Israelsen. “Health freedom is the most expensive freedom there is, and it’s worth it. The fight is worth it. And I think you will see Utah always at the front of that battle.”
