Source Naturals continues to innovate with telomeres, vegan ingredients

Santa Cruz, Calif.-based supplement company Source Naturals refuses to rest on its laurels as a trusted legacy brand. The formulation innovations, rebranded unified set of SKUs and on-trend line of science-based formulations is truly a sight to behold.

Let’s start with its Vegan True line, an 18-SKU lineup that helps vegans meet their unique nutritional needs. It provides nutrients vegans have difficulty getting from their typical diets, such as vitamin B12, zinc and iron, as well as supplements hard to find in vegan forms such as omega-3 fatty acids and glucosamine. We especially like that its vitamin B12 uses the superior methylcobalamin source. It can only help that the Source Naturals CEO Ira Goldberg is himself a vegan.

“As a vegan, I personally understand the challenges vegans face in living out their lifestyle commitment,” Goldberg says. “I am especially pleased to bring to market supplements that help make it easier for vegans to stay healthy while they promote a more humane and caring world.”

Also notable is its entry into the telomere space with its Telomeron SKU. First there were antioxidants, then there was mitochondria science. Today it’s telomeres–subject matter of the 2009 Nobel Prize. It is theorized that maintaining telomeres-the protective end caps of DNA strands–is a means of keeping aging at bay. The ingredients, which have been shown to support the activity of telomerase and the maintenance of telomere length, include resveratrol, vitamin D3, astralagus, L-carnosine and purslane.

Source Naturals is also working on meeting consumer demand for non-GMO supplements. To date, it has launched non-GMO vitamin C and D.

With the recent kerfuffle over supplement ingredient quality, it’s good to see that the company has its own GMP-certified manufacturing facility and controls all aspects of the supply chain from ingredient procurement to formulation and quality-control testing to minimize potential ingredient contamination or adulteration.

Every year at Natural Products Expo, editors and trend researchers from New Hope Natural Media and Sterling-Rice Group scour the show floor to find the products and brands they predict will shape the future of the natural products industry. The best of the best receive NEXTY nominations, which recognize the companies that embody not only the most innovative edge of the natural products industry, but also its deeply held social and environmental values. See all of this year's winners here.