Progressive Nutritional Therapies: Energetic medicine meets nutraceutical science.
Progressive Nutritional Therapies
Energetic medicine meets nutraceutical science
By: Dani Ng-See-Quan
Issue: April 2010
The Progressive Nutritional Therapies brand first began appearing on the shelves of practitioners and traditional health food stores in the fall of 2002. Progressive’s mission statement is a simple one – Helping Canadians live longer, more vibrant lives. But their concern goes beyond supporting the health of their customers; they’re also concerned about the health of our planet. As a company, they have made many internal changes in order to reduce their environmental footprint, including changes to their packaging, point of sale materials, and a hybrid vehicle program for their staff. One of their more visible initiatives is their Go Green program in support of the David Suzuki Foundation. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of every Progressive product is donated to the David Suzuki Foundation to help combat climate change.
Over a period of 30 years, the parent company, Body Plus Nutritional Products has grown into one of Canada’s most trusted names in natural health products. Product emerges from their 65,000 square foot facility, which serves as their Head Office, Production Facility and Central Warehouse. Body Plus’ production facility is a state of the art complex that has been site licensed by Health Canada’s Natural Health Products Directorate and is fully cGMP compliant. In order to maintain Body Plus’ cGMP compliant status, everything from finished products, raw materials as well as the facility itself must undergo and pass the numerous quality control checks that are set in place.
Although the company began as a one man show, they now support over 400 branded SKU’s and their products can be found across Canada and the U.S. “Our products have been well received by consumers and I can’t begin to tell you how supportive our retail customers have been over the years. Many of them have been with us since the beginning and have been kinder to me in more ways than I can express” says Norm Danniels - Founder. “But I would have to say that our greatest strength is our people. We have a remarkable team and I have the unique privilege of going to work with my friends every day”. In recognition of their efforts, Body Plus was awarded the Canadian Health Food Association’s Environmental Supplier of Excellence award for 2009.
In fact, Body Plus has been named Supplier of Excellence by the retail members of the Canadian Health Food Association on five occasions.
Product development for Progressive has been under the guidance of renowned Naturopath Dr. Mikhael Adams since the brand’s inception. Mikhael received his Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine degree from the National College of Naturopathic Medicine in Portland, Oregon in 1981. He fulfilled his undergraduate work at the University of Miami, and he obtained his Bachelor of Science degree in Human Biology from Kansas Newman College. Dr. Adams is the co-founder of the Renascent Integral Health clinic and President of the International Association of Auricular and Bioenergetic Medicine. Mikhael has been treating patients here in Canada since 1988 and has been involved in the formulation of natural health products for over 25 years.
Norm has been a patient of Dr. Adams since 1993 and was able to witness firsthand the care with which Dr. Adams makes his supplement recommendations. “My first appointment with Mikhael was a real eye opener for me” recalls Danniels. “Not only was I impressed with the depth of Mikhael’s knowledge but also with the holistic approach he takes with his patients. Everything was about balance and compatibility. The majority of the supplements I was taking were having a counterproductive effect and creating other issues for me. For example, the protein powder I was using was stressing my liver and kidney function. I hadn’t really thought of things like protein in terms of the whole body before. With the proteins from Progressive Dr. Adams builds the liver and kidney support right into the product and considers all the ways it impacts the patient once they consume it”.
Dr. Adams’ trademark holistic approach has been incorporated into every Progressive product. The ingredients are carefully chosen for their efficacy and purity, but also for their compatibility with the other ingredients and with consumers themselves. Each formula is also designed to be compatible with the other Progressive supplements, allowing people to self prescribe any one or the whole family of products for themselves knowing that the balance between them has already been carefully considered.
“The goal with Progressive was always to be as vertically integrated as possible” explains Danniels, “The ingredient selection process alone requires a careful hand and our products go through round after round of testing during the development phase. Having control over every aspect of that process, including the actual manufacturing of the product was always something that was important to us. We try not to outsource anything. We take the product from concept right through to delivery to the store without leaving the hands of our own team.”
Although product development is under the guidance of Dr. Adams, there are a number of key people behind the scenes at Progressive involved in the process including, Dr. JonPaul Powers, PhD (Microbiology) who leads Progressive’s Scientific Affairs. During his scientific career, Dr. Powers focused on the design of antimicrobial therapeutics and is listed as an inventor on a number of international patents and has authored a variety of peer-reviewed scientific publications. Following his laboratory career, Dr. Powers served as a unit head in the clinical trial division at the Natural Health Products Directorate of Health Canada and then as an industry consultant. Currently he oversees all aspects of Quality Assurance, cGMP Compliance and Regulatory Affairs at Body Plus while continuing to provide guidance to industry and government through his involvement on a number of working groups.
Shameena Ally, Holistic Nutritionist, VP of Sales and Marketing Renzo Mariani, and Director of Education Nelson Narciso are not only involved in the development process, but also lead functional teams of acutely capable, dedicated and committed people focused on helping Canadians live longer more
vibrant lives.
In regards to education, everyone at Progressive is unanimous in their belief that an informed consumer is their best customer. Nelson Narciso, who leads their educational program, endlessly travels the country sharing information with consumers and retailers alike. “Once people understand the unique approach that we take in developing our products they quickly see the logic in the holistic strategy” says Narciso. “Using efficacious ingredients is a good place to start, but they have to be in harmony with the other components and in balance with the end user. This is an element of product development that many companies seem to overlook”.
The individual Progressive products have also received a number of accolades including the 2009 Alive Magazine Awards of Excellence in which PhytoBerry, Progressive’s high ORAC berry supplement was named Product of the Year. PhytoBerry uses the same holistic approach, in this case targeting and supporting each organ and key body system to offer whole body antioxidant protection.
Going forward, Progressive intends to continue to offer Canadians new choices and new ideas and to play whatever role they can in helping consumers maintain a robust body and a healthy mind.
For more information on Progressive Nutritional Therapies visit www.progressivenutritional.com.