Promoting the science of whole-food supplements

How does a maker of whole food nutritional products become a household name? In the case of Standard Process Inc., the story begins back in 1929, when the firm launched at a turbulent point in American history. Royal Lee, was studying dentistry and efficient dental motors in his home workshop when he made a remarkable discovery that would change the course of his career. He cultivated an interest in nutrition after realizing that many dental issues, as well as many other health problems and disorders, were linked to nutritional deficiencies. His observation that many people lacked balanced diets and access to whole foods and produce led him to start his own line of nutritional dietary supplements.

In the beginning

Starting in 1929 with Catalyn, a food-based multivitamin supplement, Lee and his wife Evelyn went door-to-door as they built the company in their original location in Milwaukee. Lee consulted with and marketed to chiropractors, along with osteopaths and other practitioners of natural and holistic medicine. These were, of course, the main proponents of nutrition and wellness at the time. Sales of Catalyn steadily increased due to word-of-mouth advertising.

Following the success of Catalyn, Lee began to research and develop other whole food supplements. Lee would send samples of new products to a test group of doctors to solicit their feedback, and thus Standard Process (originally Vitamin Products Company) began to grow in tandem with the emerging practice of chiropractic and reflect user needs. This “growth” became literal, as in the 1940s Lee began buying farmland so that the company could grow its own pesticide-free raw materials.

Organic from the start

The current president of Standard Process, Charles DuBois, is the son of Frank DuBois, a favorite nephew of Lee who worked with Lee as an electrical engineer and became president of the company in 1990. “I always thought my dad had a cool job, so I went into electrical engineering as well,” DuBois says.

Charles DuBois traces his career with Standard Process to 1983, when he had a summer job weeding the farm’s beet fields. In later years, DuBois worked as an engineer for Standard Process and became immersed in all areas of the company. “The more I learned, the greater my passion became for Dr. Lee’s whole food philosophy and ideals,” DuBois says.“I wanted to continue to make a difference, as Dr. Lee and my father did, by assisting thousands of healthcare professionals in helping their patients get well.” DuBois became president of the company in 1995 at age 30.

Today the company owns over 1,000 acres of farmland in Wisconsin, and is a certified-organic grower. This year’s harvest was on the order of 6 million tons of produce. “We’ve always been organic,” DuBois notes. “Other people are starting to come around to organic farming, but that’s been our philosophy and practice since day one.”

This is the legacy of Royal Lee’s vision of a company committed to health and wellness. “When you look back to 1929,” DuBois says, “everybody was an organic grower — even though the certification programs didn’t begin until the early 1970s. During the 1950s and 1960s, when farms began industrializing with chemicals, we

resisted the pressure being exerted on traditional farming practices, and stayed organic. We stuck to our roots.”

The philosophy guiding the company’s manufacturing and marketing remains essentially unchanged from the days of its founding: whole-food supplements provide vital nutrients in their natural state, in forms the body can utilize synergistically and safely.

To provide support for chiropractors and others studying nutrition, the company invests heavily in education. Standard Process sponsors seminars and other continuing education opportunities for chiropractors and natural health professionals. It has independent experts all over the country who teach healthcare providers how to incorporate research-based nutrition into their clinical practices. “We also work with chiropractic colleges and are involved in producing university-level nutrition courses and textbooks,” DuBois says. “There is a real hunger for whole food nutrition education out there, especially among the new generation of healthcare professionals; their patients are demanding it.”

DuBois continues, “And we educate the educators — we teach others how to grow organic on a large scale. Our outreach efforts are where we share with educational institutions the knowledge we’ve learned; it’s a way of giving back.” For example, Standard Process is working with the University of Wisconsin’s agricultural department on sustainable use of cover crops and will submit the results as a research study.

Standard Process  markets exclusively to chiropractors and other healthcare professionals and doesn’t sell directly to the public. “We feel it is extremely important to foster the healthcare professional and patient relationship,” Dubois says. “Patients depend on their chiropractor to guide them and give them direction in how to optimize their health.”

Toward the future

Looking ahead, Dubois sees a range of opportunities for the company to leverage its strengths. “We’ll be adding more products, incorporating new technology, and pursuing efficiencies and innovations developed by our onsite, science-based research and development team. We have a long history of working with chiropractors and we will continue to focus on finding ways to better help them help their patients. At the same time, we are broadening our reach to encompass other healthcare professionals, including acupuncturists.” While Standard Process only markets in the U.S. today, going international is a future goal as well.

With, four children, and 10 nieces and nephews, Dubois thinks it’s likely that Standard Process will remain family owned for future generations. It’s a certainty that it will remain focused on its principles of improving lives through whole food nutrition, wellness and natural health.

Daniel Sosnoski is the editor of Chiropractic Economics. He can be reached at 904-567-1539, dsosnoski@chiroeco.com, or through www.ChiroEco.com.