Nutri-West was founded in 1981, a small nutritional supplement company offering a limited, but effective line of its own products. The company was the creation of a successful Wyoming chiropractor and nutrition expert, Dr. Paul White, and his wife Marcia. Their children, Tony, Michele and Tiffany, have been actively involved with the business since they were very young and know virtually every facet of this increasing enterprise. Four years ago, they became the sole owners of Nutri-West.
A great deal has changed since then. Nutri-West is, today, a multi-national giant with state-of-the-art manufacturing and shipping facilities serving distribution centers throughout the United States, Africa, Canada, England, Belgium, Norway, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Ireland, Switzerland, Poland, New Zealand, Australia, Tasmania, Ukrain, Ukraine, South America, Romania, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
The company’s product list has grown, too, expanding and developing from its limited beginnings into the largest, most diverse line of nutritional supplementation available today. There are now more than 685 separate Nutri-West products, including vitamins, minerals, glandulars, enzymes, amino acids, unsaturated fatty acids, specialty products, tinctures, herbals, gels, topicals, homeopathics and Chinese herbs.
For all of the changes that have taken place, it is what has stayed the same that remains the basis of Nutri-West’s success. The sole focus of operations is still helping the healthcare professional optimize the well being of his or her patients. As before, Nutri-West strives to provide ever-more-effective supplements developed by its research panel of more than 20 eminent doctors. Realizing that patient compliance is a key to patient health, the company continues to offer only high-potency, all-natural products that are easy to carry, easy to take and, in general, easy to make a part of one’s regular quest for health.
In its continuing policy of marketing exclusively through chiropractors, nutritionists, medical doctors and other licensed professionals and never through health food stores or other retail outlets, the company maintains a founding commitment to healthcare professions. In fact, under the continuing aegis of Dr. White, it is the only nutritional firm in existence today that is owned and operated by a healthcare professional for healthcare.The American Chiropractor (TAC) interviewed Dr. White recently about how this Mom-and-Pop enterprise turned into such a giant and what keeps Nutri-West going and growing.
TAC: How did you develop your first products?
White: Actually, the first products we manufactured were just for our own family and patients. I was lecturing all over the world at that time with the White/Walther Applied Kinesiology seminars. When the doctors found out I was manufacturing a few products, they wanted them. We didn’t intend to start Nutri-West—it just happened.
TAC: What prompted you to develop these products?
White: I got tired of products that didn’t work and whose quality went up and down. When we started our first few products, it was because I really needed them in our own practice and for our family and friends. Nutri-West took off and has never stopped growing.
TAC: Is there any additional education chiropractors need in order to achieve maximum results from your products?
White: There really isn’t. Most doctors of chiropractic are nutritionally and naturally minded to begin with—Nutri-West is a perfect fit for them. We have a number of fantastic doctors that lecture for Nutri-West. They have treatment techniques that make it easier to diagnose and treat with Nutri-West products. Dr. John Brimhall teaches classes using his own seven-step wellness program that simplifies and hones in on nutritional testing plus all aspects of health. Dr. Dan Murphy is an expert on Omega 3 fish oils, and Dr. Evan Mladenoff is an expert on teaching his sports techniques. Most of our Nutri West distributors are experts in all phases of the Brimhall technique, and/or Applied Kinesiology, or reflex analysis, etc., and can also help their physician customers with any questions they might have.
TAC: What are some comments you get back from chiropractors and/or their patients?
White: Most doctors and patients are amazed at the efficacy of the products. We attribute this to our “hands on” approach. We are a family run business and we constantly check and monitor everything. There are days when we are all back in manufacturing, doing the actual measuring, tableting, encapsulating—anything that needs doing! These are OUR products and they reflect on our family—we want them to be the best on the market and, if we have to work all night to achieve those results, WE DO IT!
TAC: Are there any specific areas in which or complimentary treatments with which your products work best?
White: We think our products work the best in all areas with any complimentary treatment!
TAC: To what type of doctor do your products appeal most?
White: Some doctors think, because I taught Applied Kinesiology for years, that we appeal only to AK doctors. This is not true—we have doctors that practice every type of chiropractic there is.
TAC: Are there any other benefits your company offers chiropractors that use your products?
White: Probably the biggest benefit is faster and more efficacious results.
TAC: How have you and your family’s nutritional habits (diet and nutritional supplements) changed over the years in response to what you’ve learned about health and nutrition?
White: Nutrition is such a science in progress; there are so many new things all the time. We find that we use our family and ourselves as guinea pigs on many of the new raw materials. We’ve always eaten right, and have tried to teach our children (and now grandchildren) the healthiest way we know.
When our children were little, my wife stayed at home. She ground fresh wheat and grains to make bread, even made our own butter and ice cream. Our children drank raw milk, and never had any sugar until they were older—or so we thought.
A few years ago, they started telling us how they went to school with these thick homemade sandwiches, and fruit, etc. (their cookies were made out of ground figs, homemade peanut butter or sesame butter and dates). They traded them off for Wonder Bread with store bought peanut butter and grape jelly!!!
But, we figure we helped a lot of kids in town to be healthier! They all still laugh about this! We all probably take more nutrition than 99 percent of the population but, so far, it has worked—no one is ever sick. I can’t remember any of our family ever missing a day of work due to illness. Once in a great while, one of us feels like he or she is coming down with the flu, but we take about four Total Probiotics, three or four L-Glutamine Plus and then one per hour until we feel better.
For more information on Nutri-West, call 307-358-5066, or visit www.nutri-west.com.