Don’t forget to take your vitamins. This is something most of us have heard throughout our lives, not just from our own moms but also reverberating on television ads every 3 minutes. Though entrepreneur and nutritional supplement expert Hallie Rich has understood that message more intensely than most. She’s a 3rd generation vitamin producer – her dad made vitamins, her grand dad made vitamins – even her grandmother, Charlotte, made vitamins (pictured on the left with Hallie). Her grandparents opened a vitamin business well before she was born and Hallie practically grew up in a vitamin manufacturing plant. So when Hallie takes her vitamins, she takes them very seriously.
Trouble is Hallie’s life balances on one ironic fact – Hallie can’t swallow pills.
Imagine the embarrassment of being part of a family business that stretches back five decades and being the one member of the family not able to try her own product. One imagines a little girl tossing her vitamins over her shoulder rather than attempting to swallow those pills. So Hallie, determined to make her mark on the industry as well as to solve a personal problem, invented (patent pending) a vitamin packet that’s reminiscent of a pixie stick – dissolving atop the tongue. AlternaVites™ is the first and only full-spectrum multivitamin and mineral that when sprinkled on your tongue, melts in your mouth. AlternaVites™ includes 23 essential vitamins and minerals. It is vegan, both sugar and fat free. As well as free of artificial colors, preservatives, flavors and contains no peanuts, wheat, milk, egg, soy or tree nuts. Keep the Vitamin, Lose the Pill is the company motto.
“40% of Americans also have difficulty swallowing pills,” says Hallie. This leaves many Americans reluctant to take vitamins. Almost 100 million people have trouble swallowing capsules or tablets so Hallie took a childhood embarrassment and turned it into a new, prosperous business – Rich Vitamins – serving the dietary supplement needs of those who can’t swallow pills.
But why do we even need vitamins?
Hallie says, “I believe in the proven health benefits of vitamins. That is why I help educate my friends and those around me about vitamins”. She goes on to say she’s a defender of the industry and a staunch supporter of proper supplementation.
Americans are better known for fast food than for their fine nutritional eating habits and since the Great Recession pummeled the nation people are eating even worse. Gallup reports 4.5 million fewer Americans ate healthfully in May 2011 than in the same month last year. The percentage of people who had five or more servings of fruits and vegetables at least four days in the previous week before being polled dropped from 57.8% to 55.9%. Since the 1980’s, childhood obesity rates in America have tripled with one in three children overweight or obese. The numbers are even higher in African American and Hispanic communities, where nearly 40% of the children are overweight or obese. While eating a 99¢ burger may be affordable and it may even fill your belly, it is hardly a balanced nutritious meal.
Based on feedback from consumers as well as studying the data Hallie has fast-tracked AlternaVites™ for Kids to hit the market Q1 2012.
So what happens when you don’t have a proper vitamin intake? A lack of vitamin C causes scurvy while a dearth of D causes rickets – a disease resulting in Gumby-like children with “soft bones”. Too little vitamin K effects coagulation – so cut yourself and you just may bleed to death – which can’t possibly be very attractive. While scurvy may remind you of pirates – aaaargh – and rickets, Dickensian London, the lack of nutritious eating has become an alarming priority that even the First Lady of the United States has been set into action with her Let’s Move campaign. Where Nancy Regan once said no to drugs, Michelle Obama is saying eat a carrot – preferably an organic one and hopefully from your own garden.
Scientific American is reporting an exponential uptick in vitamin D deficiency throughout America although for a more stellar reason. Noting the rise in anti-skin cancer consciousness, a greater number of the American people are now avoiding the sun altogether as well as applying sun blockers with superior protection. And while this has helped tremendously in the fight against skin cancer, it may be linked to a deficiency in the vitamin that is naturally generated by sun exposure.
This all indicates a greater need for vitamin supplements to balance a modern harried American diet.
“With all of our busy schedules many people are not receiving proper daily nutrition,” says Hallie noting that more people are eating on the run and relying on fast food. She continues, “A daily multivitamin can be used as a good insurance policy to help fill in the gaps in your diet.”
There have been reports in the news regarding vitamin safety. In a world where Chinese manufacturers allow lead in their paint and cardboard in their dumplings it isn’t hard to fathom that those mashed up micro-granules may not be exactly what one thinks they are. “Despite the rumors and innuendos, the vitamin industry is regulated” informs Hallie. “We are regulated by both the FDA and FTC and my company pays strict attention to the laws and regulations by which we are supposed to operate”. She continues, “Our raw materials as well as our finished product are quality-tested and stability-tested to ensure that we meet what we claim on the label – both in purity and potency.” AlternaVites is manufactured, packaged and distributed all in New York – where Hallie can personally keep a trained eye on things.
So how does a consumer know what vitamins they need? Hallie recommends government sites like the NIH or trade publications including wholefoodsmagazineonline.com, naturalproductsinsider.com and nutraingredients-usa.com. WebMd also provides an extensive explanation of dietary supplements that will steer one in the right direction.
So whether you can swallow pills or not, Hallie wants you to take your vitamins and take them as seriously as she does.
-Jono
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