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Element Nutrition

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Element Nutrition

A nutritional scientist by trade, Stuart Lowther’s passion is formulating high-quality nutritional products that benefit consumers and allow both kids and adults to maintain optimum health and well-being.

As a two-time nominee of Ernst and Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award with 25 years of experience in the health science field as well as the pharmaceutical, nutrition and dietary supplement industries, Lowther knows exactly what it takes to operate a successful business.

Moreover, as a triathlete, half marathoner, husband and father of three teen daughters, Lowther understands what it takes to keep up with an active family and stay healthy himself. 

In 2005, Lowther founded Life Science Nutritionals, Canada’s only manufacturer and supplier of gummy-based vitamins for children at the time. 

“Gummies is where the vitamin market was going, and I knew once kids tried our gummy vitamins, they wouldn’t want a chalky chewable vitamin ever again.”

In 2014, PROFIT 500 Business Week Magazine named Life Science Nutritionals the second fastest growing company in Canada. “Although we were a very successful business, I was still the smallest player in the market,” Lowther explains. In 2015, Lowther sold his thriving business to one of his U.S. competitors, Santa Cruz. “It was the right time to sell.”

SECOND TIME IS A CHARM
Still eager to create new products, Lowther “opened a new set of doors” within a month, establishing Element Nutrition Inc, his new supplement company.  Based in a newly built state-of-the-art office in Burlington, Ontario and employing many of his key staff that guided the success of his first business, Lowther is confident Element Nutrition will enjoy greater success.

“The second time around, the process goes faster.” Lowther says he has a greater level of confidence launching his new business. “I have the best team in place and have structured the entire start-up process differently: timing operations, managing finances and cash flows, timing details with product development and retailers,” says Lowther.

ENTER ELEMENT NUTRITION
“Element Nutrition will enhance people’s lives by delivering innovative and convenient nutritional solutions for all areas of human health,” Lowther says.

Lowther called his new company Element Nutrition because “elements are the basis of all human life and optimal nutrition is key to living life to the fullest.”

Element Nutrition is releasing eight new products under the following brand names: Boomer Nutrition and IronKids Nutrition.

“We create new and innovative products and retailers appreciate that. We have secured listings with Shoppers Drug Mart and Loblaws as well as health food distribution,” says Lowther. “Our products are launching nationwide this May.” 

Boomer Nutrition
Using his background in nutritional sciences and human metabolism, Lowther has developed Boomer Nutrition, a line of protein-based products specifically designed to help Baby Boomers—people aged 50 and older—decrease muscle loss due to aging and maintain a healthy metabolism. According to April 2014 Data from the U.S. Census Bureau, there are 80 million baby boomers in North America. 

“Everyone is aware we have an aging population,” he says. “Being a scientist by trade, I am aware of sarcopenia and the effects of losing lean muscle mass as we age. I decided to focus on that market for one aspect of my second business and Boomer Nutrition was born.”

IronKids Nutrition

Along with its brand for boomers, Element Nutrition will launch IronKids Nutrition. While operating Life Science Nutritionals, Lowther developed IronKids gummies, one of Canada’s top lines for children’s gummy vitamins. 

“We’ve developed four different healthy snack bars for kids, which are gluten-free, GMO-free, and peanut-free, and will be available at retailers in March,” Lowther explains. “These bars will be perfect for today’s active kids that need healthier options for school lunches and extra energy for after school activities.”

HARD WORK
Challenge and hard work is something Lowther aspires to even outside of business. Having completed a 70.3 IronMan, sumitted Mount Kilimanjaro and hiked to Mount Everest Base camp with his wife, Lowther is not shy to setting big goals. 

Lowther’s family gets behind the brands he develops with his children being chief taste testers and ambassadors at local events for his IronKids products while his wife Deborah, works on the marketing, websites and social media.

“I want to grow Element Nutrition five times faster than I did my previous company,” he says. “Our five-year growth rate for Life Science Nutritionals was over 5,000 per cent, according to Profit Magazine. My goal is to exceed that with Element Nutrition.” 

“I want to grow Element Nutrition five times faster than I did my previous company.” 

Natural Remedies Under Fire

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Natural Remedies Under Fire

Pediatric homeopathic medicines for cold and flu face labeling changes

On July 31, 2015, the former Health Minister Rona Ambrose announced changes for certain homeopathic products that fall under the Natural Health Product Regulations. As of July 2016, Health Canada will no longer approve specific health claims on homeopathic cough, cold and flu products for children 12 and under—unless these claims are supported by scientific evidence, such as clinical trials. 

The CHPA believes that this change is fundamental when it comes to the kinds of evidence deemed acceptable to support health claims within the Natural Health Products (NHP) regulatory framework. This may have further implications for other subcategories of NHPs, perhaps all products claims of which are based on traditional use. 

Health Canada states that the department “is introducing these changes to ensure that Canadians who chose to use homeopathic products have the information they need to improve their safe use, especially parents trying to make the best choices for their children.” How this will contribute to an informed choice is not at all clear. 

The CHPA is challenging this policy decision. The entire NHP regulatory framework is focused on providing Canadians with access to information and products to enable consumers to make well-informed decisions when considering their healthcare needs. 

Altering the accepted standards of evidence without any discussion with Canadians about what information they wish to see, does not lead to informed choice. We believe that if Health Canada’s policy is implemented, there will be almost no nonprescription pediatric cough, cold and flu medicines left on the market for children under six and no homeopathic cough and cold medicines for children under 12. 

Instead of using homeopathic products formulated for children, parents will be left with the undesirable options of leaving the child untreated, estimating a child’s dose based on a product designed for an adult or increasing visits to healthcare providers to seek advice for otherwise self-limiting conditions. 

Canada’s Natural Health Product Regulations were developed and implemented through an exhaustive national consultative process, following 53 recommendations of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Health adopted by the Minister of Health in 1998. 

Homeopathic medicines are defined and regulated as a subcategory of NHPs. Health Canada has actually regulated homeopathic medicines much longer, since 1990, acknowledging their safety and permitting indications for use (claims) for multi-ingredient children’s homeopathic cough, cold and flu medicines since 1997.

In the interest of providing consumers with the information they need, the CHPA has asked Health Canada to pause and retrace the steps leading up to the July 31, 2015 decision so that all stakeholders can fully understand Health Canada’s concerns and explore other labeling and communications options that will result in a more informed choice and continued safe use of homeopathic medicines. 

Philip Waddington, a naturopathic doctor, is the executive director of the Canadian Homeopathic Pharmaceutical Association (CHPA).

PHILIP WADDINGTON, ND

Darou Wellness: Comprehensive Women’s Health and Family Care

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Like that of many naturopathic doctors, Dr. Shawna Darou’s path towards alternative medicine wasn’t direct. With two undergraduate degrees from Queen’s University—one in engineering chemistry and the other in biology—she decided to follow her passion for health, yoga and nutrition by moving to Vancouver and volunteering at local naturopathic clinics. Five years later, she became a student of the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine.

 

Last year, after practicing on her own for 11 years, Dr. Darou started Darou Wellness—her own naturopathic clinic located in the Queen West neighbourhood of downtown Toronto.

 

“It’s exciting to be at that early stage and it’s nice to be jumping out of the practicing in isolation,” says Dr. Darou. “What helped me overcome all the challenges was really loving to learn.”

 

The first challenge, notes Dr. Darou, was finding the right space. She needed at least four treatment rooms and a studio area, in which she could hold lectures and classes. The perfect space turned out to be in same building she had been practicing at for nine years.

 

The 2,700-square-foot Darou Wellness clinic features five treatment rooms, a studio space, a reception area and a kitchen for healthy cooking demos. Darou Wellness also holds a lecture series delivered by the staff and guest speakers. Improving the clinic’s visibility in the neighbourhood, these lectures also create exciting learning opportunities for those who seek knowledge about naturopathic medicine and healthy living. Additionally, to provide extra support for future mothers, Dr. Darou has recently introduced prenatal yoga classes.

 

“I’ve noticed that many people do their research online and they have so many questions,” says Dr. Darou. “The idea with the studio and the lecture series was to bring in some of the hot topics so that people can come with their questions and learn. They can actually ask an expert rather than feel isolated in their search for information.”

 

Dr. Darou believes promoting healthy lifestyles depends on the support of the community around you—one of the reasons why she is trying to connect people with common health and wellness goals, women in particular.

 

“Our mission is to build a community and provide collaborative care,” she says. “We want to be collaborative as a team and, with the patient’s consent, to be able to share expertise and provide a venue for learning.”

 

Darou Wellness currently has nine practitioners: two naturopaths, a holistic nutritionist, an osteopath, a pelvic health physiotherapist, a massage therapist, and two psychotherapists. Dr. Darou says that having all of practitioners in one place provides her patients with excellent care and a solid basis for support.

 

“If I am working with a patient on a nutrition plan and I determine that they need to be off gluten, I now have a nutritionist that I can refer them to, who is on site, who I trust and who can really go to the kitchen with the patient and recommend proper meal plans.”

 

The clinic so far has about 350 patient visits per month, with the busiest season running from October through January. Darou Wellness receives patients from the Queen West Street neighborhood near Trinity Bellwoods Park; most of whom are women, 25 to 40 years old, and are facing hormonal and fertility issues.

 

“My approach to treating infertility and hormonal imbalance is very much how I work with any other health condition,” says Dr. Darou. “First, I take an excellent case—go through health and family history, especially looking at factors that can affect hormones, such as toxin exposure, weight, symptoms of thyroid imbalance, stress levels, digestive function and antibiotic use. Then, I do lab testing to confirm a diagnosis or imbalance; and finally, I recommend a treatment that corrects the imbalance.”

clinic_-5

Dr. Darou points out that there is still a lot of confusion and misunderstanding when it comes to alternative medicine in our society.

 

“I think women are just unaware that there is an alternative way. The conventional treatments are brilliant, but I don’t feel like everyone who hasn’t conceived after a year needs an in-vitro procedure. It would be awesome if we could first optimize their health and support their hormonal balance. Then, often, pregnancy will happen naturally.”

 

By focusing on women’s health and complete family care, Dr. Darou also sees her patients’ partners and children. A large part of her practice is focused on indigestion and stress-related issues.

 

The clinic has a big dispensary, which allows Dr. Darou to choose the products that best fit her patients’ needs.

 

“I would say the top seller is prenatal vitamins,” she says. “The quality of prenatal vitamins that we have access to as naturopathic doctors is so much better than what people buy at a pharmacy.”

 

Probiotics are the second most frequently prescribed product at the clinic, together with other therapeutics aimed at rebalancing intestinal flora.

 

Dr. Darou says she is still learning how to promote her new business. The clinic currently has a Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts as well as its own YouTube channel.

 

In addition to following a social media schedule, Dr. Darou says the other “big secret” that has been helping the clinic build effective online presence is working with other businesses that have similar clientele by offering them guest blogging and interviews.

 

The clinic also has a strong Instagram presence.

 

“People seem to be mostly interested in food,” says Dr. Darou. “No matter what we post, this seems to be the most popular.”

 

While pictures with recipes and different foods receive the most likes, Darou Wellness followers also appreciate posts that reflect the clinic’s blog and lectures. Frequent blogging is also an effective tool for boosting the business’s SEO, says Dr. Darou.

 

“For example, I do a lot of work with personal genomics. If somebody is looking up ‘a naturopath who does MTHFR,’ my blog post will pop up.”

 

Another factor helping Darou Wellness stay connected with its present and future patients is the clinic’s weekly newsletter.

 

“I write about what I am interested in—health-wise and research-wise,” says Dr. Darou. “The newsletter is more for information sharing and also, to update people on what’s happening at Darou Wellness.”

 

To establish the clinic’s visibility in the neighbourhood, Dr. Darou is building ties with local businesses.

 

“It’s just a matter of getting out and meeting people,” she says. “There are a number of healthy restaurants nearby, and we are working on building some bridges there as well.”

 

Although there are many challenges that a new clinic owner faces, Dr. Darou knows what it takes to run a successful business.

 

“Excellent multitasking; a great team to delegate some of the day-to-day tasks; a good system for online booking, emails returned and new patient forms,” she says. “And staff and colleagues who work well together and respectfully in a space. Professionalism!”

How emails affect your health

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Nearly 2,000 people in the U.K. from different industries participated in the study carried out by Dr Richard MacKinnon from the Future Work Centre. Researchers analyzed how the participants perceived email pressure and investigated factors that influenced this perception.

The results showed that many people have bad habits when it comes to managing their emails with 62 per cent of the participants having their emails on all day. Researchers also found that the participants who checked their emails first thing in the morning were suffering from higher levels of stress and pressure than those who didn’t.

The research was presented at the British Psychological Society (BPS) Division of Occupational Psychology’s annual conference.

Using Genes To Understand The Brain’s Building Blocks

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As described in Nature Neuroscience, researchers at the Allen Institute for Brain Science have created a detailed taxonomy of cells in the mouse visual cortex based on single-cell gene expression and identified 49 distinct cell types in the largest collection of individual adult cortical neurons characterized by gene expression published to date.

“Studying any system requires knowing what the system is made of,” says Bosiljka Tasic, Ph.D., assistant investigator at the Allen Institute for Brain Science. “There are many ways to define the brain’s cellular building blocks. Our approach was to look at all the genes that are expressed in individual cells in the mouse visual cortex and use that information to classify the cells.”

The researchers isolated single cells from the adult mouse brain and obtained genome-wide gene expression data from these individual cells. Each cell expresses thousands of genes, making the cell classification problem an enormous computational task.

“Initially, the problem of classifying cells is like sorting Skittles in the dark,” says Vilas Menon, scientist II at the Allen Institute for Brain Science. “With single-cell gene expression data, we get the equivalent of color, or type, information, but we still have to extract it from the large-scale data set. Ultimately, we wanted to figure out how many types there were in an unbiased, data-driven way.”

The researchers used computational dimension reduction techniques, which collapse genes with similar expression patterns into gene sets. When single cells were analyzed by clustering in this lower-dimensional space, 49 distinct groups appeared based on unique combinations of genes they express, including 42 neuronal cell types and 7 non-neuronal types.

“Having this kind of objective analysis of cell types in this region of the brain is a basic piece of understanding we need, and provides a baseline for looking at other regions of the mouse brain and also at the human brain,” says Christof Koch, Ph.D., President and Chief Scientific Officer at the Allen Institute for Brain Science.

“Categorizing the cells in visual cortex into these distinct types that are marked by specific genes will enable us to begin to understand what these cells and types do in the brain,” says Hongkui Zeng, Ph.D., Investigator of Cell and Circuit Genetics at the Allen Institute for Brain Science. “Next, we can investigate how gene expression correlates with the anatomical, physiological and functional properties of the cells, how these cell types are connected with each other, and how they work together to process and make sense of the visual information the brain receives from the outside world. This will ultimately shed light on the inner workings of the brain.”

Devalued loonie may come with bright side for retailers

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Devalued loonie may come with bright side for retailers

The loonie’s drop to a 12-year low has boosted sales for Canadian retailers in 2016, especially due to fewer shoppers crossing the border to buy goods. However, profit growth will vary depending on each retailer’s ability to control import costs and combat price increases.

The Conference Board of Canada has forecasted a 4.2 per cent growth in retail sales in 2016, up from a likely gain of 1.3 per cent in 2015. However, it also noted that because costs are likely to increase at a similar pace, margins will likely remain the same.

The weak loonie may also cause complications for retailers that import their goods. Bargain chain Dollarama Inc, which relies heavily on Chinese imports priced in U.S. dollars, has already widely raised shelf prices to improve its margins. However, it now risks losing market shares to rivals. And, as hedging strategies fail and margin pressures increase, more stores are expected to follow that lead.

CBRE, a commercial real estate services firm, noted in their 2016 outlook for Canada that an influx of foreign retailers and tourists should help to encourage retail sales growth despite poor economic growth.

“Overall, the low loonie is a positive for Canadian retailers,” says Arlin Markowitz, an analyst of urban retail investment properties for CBRE. “It’s not only keeping Canadians’ purchasing power at home, but it’s also attracting tourists.”

Neptune acquires Biodroga

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Neptune acquires Biodroga

Neptune Technologies & Bioressources Inc., a biotechnology company, has recently acquired the Montreal-based Biodroga Inc. for $15 million.

Biodroga provides omega-3s as well as other functional ingredients to branded marketers in the nutraceutical industry—mostly in North America. The company’s products mostly include omega-3s, accompanied with other important nutritional ingredients used in specialty formulations.

“Biodroga offers a scalable solutions platform, with a broad range of product development capabilities and cross selling opportunities,” Jim Hamilton, President and CEO of Neptune said in a news release. “The acquisition allows us to play a much broader role in the customer value chain, leveraging our collective capabilities with an expanded set of offerings.”

Hamilton added that the acquisition is in line with Nepture’s strategy to build on their current solution business “by further progressing into specialized product development services, such as formulation and blending.”

Academy of Nutrition supports new U.S. dietary guidelines

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Academy of Nutrition supports new U.S. dietary guidelines

The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics recently announced their support for the new 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Why does the Academy support these new guidelines?

The new guidelines, according to a news release from the Academy, are “based on a thorough review of the strongest available scientific evidence to improve how and what Americans eat.”

“The 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines provide crucial science-based information for health professionals to use in helping consumers make healthy choices for themselves and their families,” said registered dietitian nutritionist and Academy President Dr. Evelyn F. Crayton. “They will provide a solid basis for federal nutrition policy, identify future research needs and equip health professionals and employers with the tools necessary to benefit the public.”

Crayton added that the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, created by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, represent the federal government’s cornerstone for nutrition policy and education for the next five years.

Derma e comes to Target

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Derma e comes to Target

California-based derma e has selected Target to carry its hydrating and firming products. This move will expand Target’s selection of natural skin care products.

“We are excited to partner with Target and connect with its guests who are passionate about high-quality health and wellness products,” says Jeff Carducci, vice president of North American sales for derma e. “derma e is proof that you don’t need to use products with potentially harmful ingredients to look young and feel beautiful.”

In its 1,200 stores, Target will carry derma e’s Hydrating Day Creme, Night Creme, Firming DMAE Moisturizer and Firming DMAE Eye Lift in January. Currently, Target sells the aforementioned products in 200 of its stores.

Campbell’s Soup supports GMO labelling

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Campbell’s Soup supports GMO labelling

Campbell Soup Co. now supports mandatory labeling of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), which means the company will disclose if any of its products contain GMOs.

“The company will advocate for federal legislation that would require all foods and beverages regulated by the Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to be clearly and simply labeled for GMOs,” Campbell’s Soup stated in a news release. “Campbell is also supportive of a national standard for non-GMO claims made on food packaging.”

According to the New York Times, Campbell’s Soup is the first major company to disclose the presence of GMOs in its products. At this point, other companies have only created labels indicating no use of GMOs or have reformulated products to replace these ingredients.

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