This company succeeded through continual technological innovation

Question: Which manufacturer of nutritional supplements was one of the very first established, later became a maker of pharmaceuticals, and also played a role in supporting the U.S. Armed Forces? If you said “Anabolic Laboratories,” you’d be right. This is a company with a unique history and a reputation for high-quality products.

The Anabolic story begins in 1912, as J.W. Wigelsworth embarks on a career as a naturopathic doctor, studying under Oakley Smith — one of D.D. Palmer’s first graduates. By 1920, Wigelsworth had begun narrowing his focus on nutrition, but found that many of his patients wouldn’t eat the amount of vegetables he prescribed for their diets.

Concentrated nutrition

Using an oven to dry out vegetables of various types, then using a mortar and pestle, Wigelsworth began preparing highly concentrated vegetable mixtures and encapsulated them, finding that his patients would readily take and digest this “concentrated nutrition.”

J.W. Wigelsworth asked his brother A.E. Wigelsworth — an engineer — to join him to develop ovens and drying equipment for processing large quantities of vegetables at once. This proved to be a highly successful partnership.

In 1924 they incorporated as Anabolic Food Products and began selling their products by mail order, marketing them directly to chiropractors and through medical conventions. The current CEO and chairman of the board, Steve Brown, continues the story: “J.W. was concerned about depleted soil quality in the Midwest affecting the nutritional content of their produce, so he relocated the production facilities to Glendale, California, and bought up hundreds of acres there.”

Anabolic began growing steadily and branched out into sales of organic seeds and dehydrated foods as survival goods, which were in demand during the Great Depression. “By 1936 the company had two main divisions: Anabolic Foods, which concentrated on marketing and sales, and Anabolic Inc., which focused on developing capsule nutrition,” Brown says. The company began to evolve with the science supporting higher potency and concentrated natural products.

Supporting the country

The outbreak of WWII presented a major challenge for the company: “It almost put us of business,” Brown says. “Demand for raw materials, including gelatin capsules, made sourcing our products extremely difficult.” In response, the Wigelsworth brothers approached the U.S. military and secured a contract to supply analgesic medications for the war effort.

“We had already met federal food regulations in the 1930s, but because of the more stringent regulations for medications, we had to meet even tougher standards,” says Brown. “But this is also why the government wanted to work with us — we were a qualified supplier with expertise in standardization.” Anabolic still continued sales to the chiropractic market, while maintaining military contracts through the Viet Nam era.

During the late 1960s, business began returning to

normal and Anabolic refocused on the chiropractic and naturopathic markets. Expiration of technical patents in the U.K. led to the company developing nutritional tablets. “A tablet is a more efficient tool,” says Brown. “And we developed a time-release coating and ‘beadlet’ design for products aimed at gastrointestinal absorption.”

As the 1970s gave way to the 1980s, Anabolic Laboratories solidified its position in the nutritional supplement business, applying pharmaceutical protocols for quality and safety to its line of nutritional products.

“We conducted several joint projects with the National College of Chiropractic (now National University of Health Sciences), and sponsored studies on bio-availability through the ’80s and ’90s,” Brown says. “And doctors often have the best ideas, so we listened to our advisory councils.”

The company’s efforts to advocate for nutrition led it to support the Proxmire Amendment in 1976, and the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) in 1994. “In the 1990s, we partnered with Sandy Gooch, who was pioneering the movement to improve school nutrition,” Brown says.

To train healthcare professionals, Anabolic has long supported nutrition expert lectures around the country, and has been instrumental in moving dietary supplements into the mainstream.

For his part, Steve Brown joined Anabolic Laboratories in 1971, having married into the Wigelsworth family. “My degree was in natural resources and I’d considered working for the forestry service, but instead of saving trees, I found even more satisfaction in being able to save lives,” he says.

What lies ahead

With 320 employees, Anabolic Laboratories is a very much a family business; Steve Brown’s son, Kyle Brown, is the current president of both Anabolic Laboratories and of the private label division of Nexgen Pharma. (Anabolic incorporated its pharmaceutical interests as Nexgen last year.)

Looking ahead, Steve Brown sees expanding opportunities for the company, “We’re going to reach out further to the chiropractic market, and conduct more research studies. We plan on additional partnerships with chiropractic colleges and universities — we’re growing in a number of directions and it will be a challenge to do it all.”

The company is also going green, purchasing hybrid vehicles for its fleet, recycling on a large scale, and planning on solar power for facility upgrades. “Our deep roots allow us to grow into all areas of nutrition,” Brown says. “It all revolves around our belief in health and well being.”

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

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Our profile series offers you an in-depth look at how and why 5 companies emerged as forerunners in the production and distribution of vitamins and nutritional supplements. They blazed a trail in pursuit of both science and health.

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